Bogota, Colombia, November 19, 2012—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, signed today an agreement with Triada, a Colombian home builder, to support the construction of nearly 2,500 affordable homes by 2015, contributing to job creation and the reduction of the housing deficit in the country.
IFC’s investment includes $10 million in mezzanine financing to increase the availability of high-quality housing for low-income people across the largest metropolitan areas of the country. The investment will help address Colombia’s 1.3 million housing deficit, most of which are in the low-income segment of the population.
With its first investment in the housing construction sector in Colombia, IFC becomes one of the few international investors in low-income housing in the country and expects to attract other investors to help expand the sector.
“IFC’s financing will support our business model to help raise living standards for low- and middle-income families in Colombia,” said Alvaro Vélez, CEO of Triada. “It shows IFC’s trust in Triada and we expect this to be the beginning of a long-term partnership in which we will benefit from IFC’s expertise in sustainable housing.”
Rising demand for housing in Colombia is contributing to a healthy homebuilding sector. In five years, Triada has capitalized on this market, becoming a successful midsize firm. The company specializes in an integrated approach to housing development that emphasizes pre-sales services to facilitate mortgage approvals for low-income families, community development, and environmentally-friendly systems encouraging more efficient water use and waste management.
“Our support to Triada is consistent with IFC’s focus on strengthening business models that improve the quality of life of people in developing countries,” said Oscar Chemerinski, IFC Director for Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. We expect that our partnership with Triada, an important player in the affordable housing market in Colombia, will help continue the expansion of the local home-building market in the country.”
IFC’s investment is aligned with the Colombian government’s National Development Plan to build one million housing units between 2011 and 2015, and which recognizes affordable housing’s instrumental role in economic and social development.
IFC’s approach in Colombia aims to build the private sector’s capacity to deliver a sustainable homebuilding program with a special emphasis on low-income housing. This is a key pillar of the World Bank Group’s strategy in Latin America, which seeks to alleviate poverty and inequality and foster economic development in the region.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
About Triada
Triada is a Colombian housing construction company focused on affordable housing. With 20 years of experience, Triada has built 10,000 housing units and is currently developing nearly 2,000 more. It has always conducted its business with a strong emphasis on financial performance, while delivering with high quality standards. Triada operates in Bogota, DC and the states of Cundinamarca and Valle del Cauca. For more information, visit
www.triada.com.co
.
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