eco.business Fund and Banco Davivienda Costa Rica strengthen support to sustainable agribusinesses in Costa Rica with USD 20 million investment
The eco.business Fund has provided a senior loan of USD 20 million to Banco Davivienda in Costa Rica to support certified agribusinesses that implement sustainable production methods. The investment aims to promote the use of responsible environmental practices within Costa Rica’s main productive segment, the agribusiness sector, and will contribute to establishing sustainability as a core business principle for financial institutions in the country.
This investment marks the third eco.business Fund transaction with Banco Davivienda Costa Rica and reflects the longstanding relationship between the fund and Davivienda’s Costa Rican operation. The bank’s commitment to promoting sustainable agribusiness focuses particularly on the key industries in Costa Rica, such as the coffee and sugar sectors, serving as a lighthouse to steering local producers toward more sustainable production.
In addition, the eco.business Fund Development Facility will provide technical assistance to bolster Davivienda Costa Rica’s green lending strategy – strengthening its internal environmental and social risk management system, staff skills, and monitoring capacity.
Dr. Jens Mackensen, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the eco.business Fund, stated: “We are proud of the strategic partnership with Banco Davivienda Costa Rica, as the Davivienda Group is a frontrunner in the adoption of sustainability principles in its banking operations and is working on implementing these principles across its subsidiaries in Latin America. Together, we believe we can ramp up support to certified agribusiness in Costa Rica and ensure we contribute to biodiversity conservation, the sustainable use of natural resources and mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts.”
“At Davivienda we are committed to accompanying and encouraging companies to develop business models that support good environmental practices, and also, their different stages of development, to generate a positive impact on society and the planet; for which we appreciate the trust of eco.business Fund, placed in our organization” assured Arturo Giacomin, executive president of Davivienda Costa Rica.
About the eco.business Fund
The eco.business Fund aims to promote business and consumption practices that contribute to biodiversity conservation, to the sustainable use of natural resources, and to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts in Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. By providing financing for business practices that conserve nature and foster biodiversity, the fund seeks investments with both environmental and financial returns. The eco.business Fund provides financing through three avenues: local financial institutions that are committed to the fund’s mission and which have the capacity to reach its target group; directly to its target group (i.e. companies and producers); and in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, to real sector intermediaries. The fund supports sustainable operations in the sectors of agriculture, fishery (including aquaculture), forestry and tourism. Target beneficiaries are those that hold an eligible sustainability certification or those taking out a loan to make eligible sustainable investments in their operations
An impact investment fund advised by Finance in Motion, the eco.business Fund was initiated by Germany’s KfW Development Bank and Conservation International with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The sub-fund for Latin America and the Caribbean has received further support from the European Commission. The sub-fund’s additional investor base comprises IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, the U.K. government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Dutch development bank FMO, Austrian development bank OeEB, and institutional investors such as ASN Bank, Calvert Impact Capital, and Raiffeisen Bank International. Finance in Motion, a leading impact investing company, is also an investor.
Operating together with each of the two sub-funds, are two development facilities that provide high-impact technical assistance to investment partners and final borrowers.
For more information please visit www.ecobusiness.fund and follow us on Twitter @ecobusinessfund.
About Banco Davivienda
Here at Davivienda we believe in an unhindered financial world that makes life easier for people, communities, businesses and cities. That is why we are more than 17,000 people in Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Miami, innovating, investing in knowledge, talent and technology, creating alliances and seeking best practices around the world, with the purpose of offering everyday solutions and exclusive offers to 10 million customers, allowing greater financial inclusion and increasing sustainable development.