Washington, D.C., October 9, 2001
—After an international tender, the International Finance Corporation has signed an agreement with debtdomain Pte Ltd to develop a private-label website to facilitate the assignment of IFC B-loan participations. The website will provide a secure environment where qualified buyers and sellers can obtain real-time market information on IFC B-loan participations.
IFC currently has over US$7.5 billion in B-loan participations in some 260 projects in developing countries worldwide. B-loan participations are IFC loans sold to other financial institutions. When IFC syndicates a B-loan, participants share in the credit risks of the loans with IFC, but also gain the advantages IFC derives from its status as a multilateral development institution. IFC’s partners in the B-loan program are international commercial banks with substantial experience investing in and/or arranging finance in developing countries.
Suellen Lazarus, Director of IFC’s Syndications and International Securities Department noted, “The banks that we work with in our B-loan program are vital partners for IFC—they leverage our impact. But at times a bank’s strategy may change and a B-loan asset may need to be sold. We believe that this website will be of considerable value to them in this process.”
Sean Tai, debtdomain’s CEO, said, “We are very pleased to be working with IFC. We look forward to assisting in the development of further liquidity in the B-loan market, using the functionality of debtdomain’s platform, which has been proven in the European, Middle East and Asia-Pacific loan markets.”
debtdomain (
www.debtdomain.com
) is the sole operating online platform dedicated to the secondary market for syndicated loans. Participants in the debtdomain platform number over 860 individuals at 220 member banks including many of the major loan market banks in both Europe and Asia. debtdomain services the market from offices in London and Singapore supported by its strategic partner, Asian Capital Partners (
www.asiancap.com
). debtdomain's market leading position and user functionality were recognized when
Euromoney
named it the “Best Secondary Loan Site” in their 2000 Internet Awards.
“As an active arranger and participant in IFC B-loans, ABN-AMRO welcomes this initiative from IFC,” said Michael Emery, Director-Syndicated Debt, Emerging Europe, Middle East & Africa, ABN-AMRO. “Not only will it promote liquidity for B-Loans, it will also facilitate management of a participant’s B-loan portfolio by providing information on that participant’s global exposure under the program. The enhanced liquidity will also assist primary placement of B-loans where secondary liquidity is of increasing importance to participants.”
Sara Simmons, Head of Secondary Loan Trading in Europe at J.P. Morgan Chase, adds, “We have used the debtdomain platform extensively and traded several times, accessing both assets and counterparties that we would not normally have considered. We strongly believe that debtdomain is the most efficient, wide-reaching and well-developed of all existing web-based loan trading products and will become the market standard.”
IFC’s mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956, IFC has committed more than $31 billion of its own funds and arranged $20 billion in syndications for 2,636 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s committed portfolio at the end of FY01 was $14.3 billion.