Market updates and sector developments

Societe Generale and IFC have signed a Collaboration Framework Agreement to accelerate efforts on sustainable finance in developing countries, as part of both institutions' shared ambition to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a strong commitment to the environmental transition and sustainability.

As part of this agreement, the two institutions aim to further develop wide-ranging financing solutions - such as project co-financings or risk-sharing agreements - contributing to private sector mobilisation in support of the climate transition.

In particular, the agreement will support sustainable finance projects to facilitate access to clean energy, water and other infrastructure and to foster sustainable agribusiness, as well as the financing of projects empowering women entrepreneurs in SMEs. Societe Generale and IFC will also share approaches and expertise on methodologies and frameworks aimed at measuring and monitoring impact.

This partnership will draw on the complementary strengths of the two institutions. Societe Generale will bring its expertise in structured finance and ESG, its ability to distribute assets to investors and its global reach. IFC will leverage its experience as the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries, including its balance sheet strength and in-depth knowledge of developing economies.

This new Collaboration Framework Agreement builds on a longstanding partnership, solid cooperation track record and a joint commitment towards the SDGs and rigorous ESG standards. Over the last 10 years, the two institutions have co-financed about 60 transactions with other partners, representing more than US$20bn in new investment flows into developing countries. IFC has also provided approximately US$1.3bn in financing to Societe Generale; for instance, to enable the scaling-up of green vehicle fleets.

In other news…

Strategic financing vehicle launched
Citi and LuminArx Capital have launched Cinergy, a strategic financing vehicle in the rapidly growing private lending market. Cinergy will offer a broad range of private credit solutions and invest across multiple asset classes, including asset-backed credit (commercial, consumer and residential).

To support Cinergy, LuminArx and its global institutional partners intend to commit more than US$2bn of capital. In addition, Citi’s spread products franchise will provide innovative leverage solutions to Cinergy to expand its investment capacity.