Washington D.C., April 23, 2008
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced that it will support Hipotecaria Vertice’s efforts to expand access to housing finance for lower-income and first-time home buyers in Mexico and pioneer financial products for energy-efficient housing. IFC’s will invest about $6 million for a 15 percent equity stake as well as provide a $40 million equivalent local currency revolving credit facility.
Mexico’s housing finance sector has a strong focus on reaching lower-income people, but there is a deficit of about 650,000 new homes a year. The housing sector also accounts for about 25 percent of the country’s energy consumption. Vertice is a pioneer of new financing products for installing features in homes to help conserve energy and natural resources.
Samuel Suchowiecky, CEO of Vertice, said, “IFC’s investments will enable us to continue growing and help Mexico meet the demand for housing, particularly among lower-income and first-time home buyers. We are also pleased that IFC is endorsing our innovative financing products that help reduce energy consumption.”
James Scriven, IFC Director for Global Financial Markets, said, “IFC’s relationship with Vertice complements our strategy to support Mexico’s larger mortgage providers in their efforts to expand access to housing finance for lower-income households. This also show our commitment to supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly home building in Mexico.”
Since 2001, IFC has invested $531 million to support Mexico’s housing finance sector and help expand access to mortgages for lower-income families. As part of its strategy, IFC has collaborated with Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal to help develop a vibrant primary mortgage market and has provided local currency financing to other key originators, including Hipotecaria Su Casita, Hipotecaria Nacional, and Hipotecaria Credito y Casa. IFC also helped develop a sound secondary mortgage market with clients including GMAC Financiera.
IFC’s strategy for Mexico focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of the private sector, deepening the financial sector by introducing specialized products and markets, supporting infrastructure development and investments in areas newly opened to private sector participation, and promoting sustainable environmental and social development and good corporate governance. Since Mexico became a member in 1956, IFC has provided $6 billion to the country’s private sector, including $2.2 billion in syndicated loans.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in local and international financial markets, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. IFC's vision is that people should have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. In FY07, IFC committed $8.2 billion and mobilized an additional $3.9 billion through syndications and structured finance for 299 investments in 69 developing countries. IFC also provided advisory services in 97 countries. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About Hipotecaria Vertice
Hipotecaria Vertice is a leading midsize Sociedad Financiera de Objeto Múltiple, or sofom, which provides financing to residential real estate developers and mortgages to home buyers. In the last several years, the company has successfully built on the growth of capital markets funding options in Mexico to securitize and finance its residential mortgage assets. As of December 2007, it had assets of about 1.8 billion Mexican pesos and equity of 183.2 million pesos. For more information, visit
www.hipotecariavertice.com.mx
.
