Washington, D.C./São Paulo – IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, FIMBank plc, the Malta-based trade finance bank, and BICBANCO launched today BRASILFACTORS to offer domestic and cross border factoring and complementary services to Brazilian corporates and small and medium enterprises.
This joint venture is launched with an initial equity investment of $10 million, which may increase to US$25 million in progressive future calls as the business develops.. FIMBank and BICBANCO have each acquired a 40% stake in the new company while IFC has acquired the remaining 20%. Although the Brazilian economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, SMEs in this country generally have limited access to funding and sophisticated trade solutions. BRASILFACTORS aims to help fill this gap with short-term funding against receivables and management solutions, such as risk protection and collection services, for both domestic and export transactions.
The inauguration ceremony that took place in São Paulo was presided by FIMBank Chairman Najeeb Al Saleh and President Margrith Lutschg Emmenegger, BICBANCO’s Vice President Milto Bardini and IFC – Head of Equity - Financial Markets, Latin America & Caribbean, Paulo de Bolle. FIMBank’s Chairman Najeeb Al-Saleh, said: "Small and medium enterprises are a decisive driver for the growth of the Brazilian economy and products such as factoring play a key role in supporting these companies, as we have seen in many other countries where factoring has been a great success."
The factoring industry is considered an important financing alternative for SMEs as it provides an integral service that includes the purchase of the SME’s trade related receivables as well as trade bill collection and administration. These services allow SMEs to take advantage of strong growth opportunities and overcome capital and access to finance constraints. Milto Bardini, Vice President of BICBANCO, said “the launch of BRASILFACTORS reaffirms our commitment to Brazilian entrepreneurs at all levels. We believe that SMEs stand to benefit substantially from the management solutions and services BRASILFACTORS will offer. “Our support to BRASILFACTORS is part of IFC’s strategy to help reduce income inequality by strengthening the competitiveness and access to finance for SMEs, and integrate small producers into the supply chain,” said Paulo de Bolle, IFC – Head of Equity - Financial Markets, Latin America & Caribbean.
BrasilFactors CEO, Joao Costa Pereira during the inauguration