SINGAPORE— August 16th, 2017—The Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB)™, structured by Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), has become listed and quoted on the Bonds Market of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as of 9:00am today, making it the first listed bond in the impact investing space with a dual focus on financial returns and social impact. The US$8 million debt security will impact over 385,000 women in Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines through enhanced access to credit, market linkages, and affordable goods and services that will build women’s resilience to socio-economic shocks and stresses.
The listing of the WLB™ ensures transparency and accountability for the bond’s investors who will receive rigorous disclosure of both financial performance and social impact, while also creating the potential for secondary liquidity in the impact investment market.
“Since the WLB™ has been announced, we have witnessed a sharp growth of interest from global investors for financial structures like the WLB™ which has greatly strengthened our confidence that impact investing is the future of financial markets. Now, with the listing of the WLB™, we have achieved the holy grail of potential liquidity in the impact investing market.” said IIX Founder, Durreen Shahnaz.
The four-year bond offers a coupon rate of 5.65% and includes a number of credit protection features, including $500,000 of first-loss capital provided by IIX as well as a 50% guarantee of the principal amount of the underlying loan portfolio, provided by USAID. Over 60% of the WLB™’s investment capital was provided by Asian investors, mostly private banking clients. The WLB™ is the first in a series of IIX Social Sustainability Bonds™ which IIX plans to structure and list over the coming years.
About IIX Social Sustainability Bonds™
IIX Social Sustainability Bonds™ are uniquely structured fixed-income financial instruments which pool together a group of high-impact enterprises and issues a collective bond. These bonds differ from traditional Social Impact Bonds as they mobilize private sector capital to generate positive social impact worldwide, offer financial returns independent of social outcomes, and are able to be listed on both social and traditional stock exchanges.
About IIX
IIX is a Singapore-based impact enterprise that bridges the gap between finance and development, carving out a third space for social and environmental solutions by unlocking investment capital. As a pioneer of impact investing, IIX builds pathways to connect the Wall Streets of the world with the backstreets of underserved communities. IIX platforms and innovative financial products enable impact enterprises to accelerate their business and scale their positive impact, while pushing the impact investing space from the margins to the mainstream. To date, the work of IIX has spanned 20 countries and continues to expand with the mission of unlocking US$1billion of impact investment capital, impacting 100 million lives by 2025.
Photo Attribution: Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images
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