Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries SA/NV-BIO

PE/Buy-Out · Brussels (Belgium)

PE/Buy-Out

Seed

Series A

Cloud/SaaS

Climate

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About

Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries SA/NV-BIO is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in direct and fund of funds investments. It focuses on debt, expansion, growth capital, middle market, emerging growth, mezzanine, start-up, early stage, private sector projects; private enterprises with a focus on small and medium enterprises and large companies with local base, financial sector with a focus on financial institutions or intermediary organizations who aim to finance small and medium sized enterprises including commercial banks, microfinance institutions, non-bank financial institutions, factoring, leasing, investment companies, microfinance investment funds, and private equity funds and infrastructure projects with a focus on private projects or public-private partnerships aiming at servicing local populations and businesses and new projects or rehabilitation of existing equipment, subsidies and grants to co-finance for feasibility studies and technical assistance programmes for training, technology transfer; and guarantees. It does not invest in production, trade, or activities involving harmful or exploitative forms of forced labor or harmful child labor, any product or activity deemed illegal under host country laws or regulations or international conventions and agreements, weapons and munitions, alcoholic beverages excluding beer and wine, tobacco, gambling, casinos and equivalent enterprises, wildlife or wildlife products regulated under CITES, radioactive materials, unbonded asbestos fibers, commercial logging operations or the purchase of logging equipment for use in primary tropical moist forest, products containing PCBs, pharmaceuticals subject to international phase outs or bans, pesticides and herbicides subject to international phase outs or bans, ozone depleting substances subject to international phase out, and drift net fishing in the marine environment using nets in excess of 2.5 km in length. The firm seeks to invest in all sectors with a focus on agriculture and agro-industry, information technology and telecommunications, productive sectors for private enterprises; renewable energy, water access, irrigation and agriculture, telecommunications, and transport infrastructure for infrastructure projects. It also invests in manufacturing and ICT. The firm primarily seeks to invest in countries that fall under the following categories: least developed countries, low income countries, and middle income countries. For private enterprises and financial sector, it seeks to invest in Africa, Central and Latin America, and Asia/South-East Asia with particular emphasis on Africa for infrastructure projects. Within Africa it invests in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe; for Asia it invests in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam; for Latin America it invests in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru; it also invests in Palestine. The firm seeks to invest in small and medium sized enterprises and larger corporations and for investment companies and funds with a maximum amount of respectively €1 million ($1.10 million) and €15 million ($16.50 million) per project and minimum amount of €3 million ($4.14 million) to €15 million ($16.50 million) for infrastructure projects and less than €1 million ($1.38 million) in the financial sector. It also provides subsidiaries and grants up to a maximum of 50% of their total cost with maximum €0.1 million ($0.14 million) and usually makes early stage investments of €5 million ($6.88 million). The firm seeks a minority and majority stake in its portfolio companies and usually does not hold more than 35%. It seeks a seat on the board of its portfolio companies and may co-invest in infrastructure projects. The firm seeks to invest in equity, quasi-equity including mezzanine, subordinated loans, convertible loans and medium and long-term loans. Loan maturity for private enterprises and financial sector may vary between 3 to 10 years, with a maximum grace period of 3 years and up to 15 years, with a maximum grace period of 3 years for infrastructure projects. Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries SA/NV-BIO was founded in 2001 and is based in Brussels, Belgium with additional offices in Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Investment Criteria