Mexico City/Washington, D.C., Nov. 28,
2006—The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm
of the World Bank Group, and Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital, Inc. today
announced they have signed with Metrofinanciera, S.A. de C.V. the Mexican
peso equivalent of a $100 million revolving line of credit. The financing
will help fund mortgage loans for low- to middle-income home buyers, diversify
Metrofinanciera’s funding sources, and maintain its securitization programs
in the capital markets. IFC and Merrill Lynch will each provide the peso
equivalent of $50 million.
Metrofinanciera is a Sofol, or a special-purpose financial company,
and is Mexico’s fifth largest specialized mortgage lending institution
by loans market share. Its main activity is to provide mortgages
to low-income individuals and construction loans to housing developers.
Atul Mehta, IFC’s Director for Latin America and the Caribbean said, “IFC’s
investment underlines our strategy to develop the housing sector in Mexico
by providing funding to key players, as well as to contribute to the development
of the country’s capital markets. In addition, with this investment
IFC is playing an important catalytic role in Mexico, particularly given
the collaboration with another leading investment bank such as Merrill
Lynch.”
Armando Guzman, CEO of Metrofinanciera said, “This warehousing line of
credit provided by IFC and Merrill Lynch is another success for Metrofinanciera
in its long term strategy of diversification of funding sources. The
capacity and experience in financial markets of IFC and Merrill Lynch brings
substantial strategic strength to Metrofinanciera. Within the Sofoles
in the Mexican housing finance sector, Metrofinanciera is the largest
issuer of debt instruments, mortgage backed securities, and construction
loan backed securities in the capital markets.”
Mr. Jim Cason, Managing Director of Merrill Lynch, added “We are excited
about our relationship with both Metrofinanciera and IFC. We believe
there is great potential in the Mexican mortgage market
and are pleased that with this transaction we are able to further our involvement
in this growth sector.”
About Metrofinanciera
Metrofinanciera was established in 1996 in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Metrofinanciera had total on-balance sheet assets equivalent to $963
million and equity of $69 million by year-end 2005. Together with
its off-balance sheet originated loans, its construction loans portfolio
stood at $802 million, while its mortgage loans portfolio stood at $429
million.
About IFC
IFC’s strategy in Mexico’s housing sector has adopted a phased approach,
in collaboration with Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal. The first phase
focused on helping develop a vibrant primary mortgage market through local
currency debt facilities to major originators in the sector. Now,
in the second phase, IFC is helping develop the secondary mortgage market
by providing warehouse credit lines to support mortgage securitization
programs and credit enhancement facilities for residential mortgage-backed
securities and other capital market securities.
IFC is the largest multilateral provider of financing for private enterprise
in developing countries. IFC finances private sector investments, mobilizes
capital in international financial markets, facilitates trade, helps clients
improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical
assistance and advice to businesses and governments. From its founding
in 1956 through FY06, IFC has committed more than $56 billion of its own
funds for private sector investments in the developing world and mobilized
an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing
countries. With the support of funding from donors, it has also provided
more than $1 billion in technical assistance and advisory services. In
Mexico, since 1956, IFC has invested $5.6 billion, including $2.2 billion
in syndications, in Mexico, in sectors ranging from infrastructure and
manufacturing to agribusiness and the financial sector, making the country
the third-largest recipient of IFC financing in dollar value, after Brazil
and Argentina. For more information, visit www.ifc.org/gfm.
About Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital
markets and advisory companies with offices in 37 countries and territories
and total client assets of approximately $1.5 trillion. As an investment
bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives
across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor
to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill
Lynch owns just under half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly
traded investment management companies with approximately $1 trillion in
assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please
visit
www.ml.com.
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