On August 25, 2020, IDB Invest granted BAC in El Salvador a senior unsecured 5-year loan for $60 million. BLP’s Banking and Finance team led by Mariana Nochez and Hunton Andrews Kurth (Washington DC) advised the lender.
BAC will use the loan proceeds for the Mujer Acelera (Woman Accelerates) program. This is an initiative created in 2007 for women-led small and medium-sized companies that are engaged in the production, marketing, and sale of goods and services. BAC plans to offer financial products and solutions to such SMEs as well as technical advice focused on increasing the knowledge of women in business. Therefore, IDB Invest will provide the support of its Gender, Diversity and Inclusion team to BAC Credomatic in developing a financial and training program that serves the SME segment, prioritizing strategies to help face the new economic conditions brought on by the pandemic. Besides IDB Invest and BAC, this program also has the support and technical assistance of We-Fi, an organization focused on developing initiatives for the financing of women.
The loan’s financial structure includes an innovative incentive for the achievement of results. Through We-Fi, IDB Invest will grant BAC Credomatic El Salvador a bonus of up to $450,000 over five years for the achievement of results in the Mujer Acelera program. This is the first time that a loan whose rate is linked to incentives for achievement of results has been granted to a group subsidiary.
BLP attorneys who participated in this transaction:
- Marina Nochez – Partner/El Salvador
- José Gochez – Asociate/El Salvador
- Pablo Umaña – Director/Costa Rica
More information about this transaction in the media (available in Spanish):
- https://www.elsalvador.com/recomendados/bac-credomatic-creditos-bid-invest-mujeres-empresarias/754720/2020/
- https://lexlatin.com/noticias/banco-america-central-prestamo-160-millones-dolares-bid-invest
- https://idbinvest.org/es/medios-y-prensa/bid-invest-y-bac-credomatic-el-salvador-unen-esfuerzos-para-potenciar-las-pyme-lideradas