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Private Sector (Nonsovereign) Financing

ADB focuses on projects that help promote private investments in the region that will have significant development impact and will lead to accelerated, sustainable, and inclusive growth.

Financial Products: Private Sector Financing

ADB undertakes nonsovereign operations to provide financing to eligible recipients in developing member countries (DMCs). Nonsovereign operations comprise the provision of any loan, guarantee, equity investment, or other financing arrangement to privately held, state-owned, or subsovereign entities, in each case, (i) without a government guarantee; or (ii) with a government guarantee, under terms that do not allow ADB, upon default by the guarantor, to accelerate, suspend, or cancel any other loan or guarantee between ADB and the related sovereign.

ADB catalyzes private investments through direct financing, credit enhancements, and risk mitigation instruments. ADB provides direct funding assistance through loans and equity investments. We offer political risk guarantee and partial credit guarantee instruments to enhance the risk profiles of transactions to attract both foreign and local commercial lenders to projects in the DMCs, and to encourage them.

Through cofinancing and guarantees, we also support local investors, domestic banks, and financial institutions to provide funds on suitable terms for ADB-assisted development projects. ADB also mobilizes additional resources for projects through a "B-loan" arrangement.

Loans and other debt instruments1

ADB offers hard currency loans, both senior and subordinated, as well as mezzanine financing. We also offer local currency loans in selective markets on a case to case basis. Interest rates and other terms vary, depending on a company’s or project’s needs and risks.

  • Rates - In pricing its loans, ADB considers prevailing market rates in the relevant country and sector, factoring in country and transaction risks. ADB provides floating rate loans at a spread above the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) or Euro interbank rate, depending on the currency. It also offers fixed-rate loans at the fixed-rate swap equivalent of floating-rate loans.

  • Fees - Market-based fees are charged. Typically, on floating-rate loans, ADB charges a once-only front-end fee as well as an ongoing commitment fee on the undisbursed balance. We may also charge a fee to cover upfront costs associated with due diligence. Project sponsors or clients will reimburse out-of-pocket expenses, such as travel and external advisory services (i.e., legal counsel, technical consultants, and environmental and insurance advisors, if any).

  • Security - We will seek security appropriate for the loan and type of financing.

1 Including, by way of example, (i) senior, subordinated, mezzanine, and convertible debt; (ii) project or limited recourse finance; (iii) tier 2 capital raised by banks; (iv) capital market debt instruments including synthetic or structured securities, and the related underwriting and liquidity support arrangements; (v) letters of credit, promissory notes, and bills of exchange (vi) performance, bid, advance, and other payment bonds and forms of bond issuances; and (vii) other forms of financial indebtedness or instruments.

Equity investments

ADB may invest directly in an enterprise. It offers financing through equity investments, including direct equity investments in the form of common shares, preferred stock, or convertibles. Equity investments in enterprises, especially financial institutions, occur before an initial public offering. ADB does not seek a controlling interest in an investee company, and will not assume any management responsibilities. It will, however, typically wish to reserve the right to appoint a nominee or an observer to the board of directors of each of its investee companies and to selected board committees, and will exercise voting rights as a shareholder. It will maintain regular contact with company management and require periodic reports on the progress of capital projects, operating performance, financial condition of the enterprise, and economic value added. ADB also requires reports on specific indicators for development outputs and outcomes, and monitors continued compliance its environmental and social safeguards.

Once the objective of its investment has been achieved, ADB will divest its shares at a fair market price. Facilitating this divestment may require the eventual listing of the shares of the investee enterprises on one or more stock exchanges, conducting a trade sale or entering into a suitable buyback agreement. In general, ADB prefers to sell shares to the nationals of the host country to broaden local ownership and further develop local capital markets. When disposing of its shares, ADB will endeavor to consult with its major investment partners and give due consideration to their views, without being precluded from disposing of its investments at its sole discretion.

ADB may also invest in a private equity fund, up to certain exposure limits. ADB will reserve the right to appoint a nominee to the advisory board of the fund. It will maintain frequent contact with the fund manager and require detailed quarterly reports on the fund manager’s investment, monitoring, value addition, and, eventually, divestment progress. With the same frequency, ADB will closely monitor financial performance as measured by net asset value. ADB makes long-term commitments of capital to private equity funds, in keeping with the long-term life cycle of such investments, and ordinarily stays invested as a shareholder or limited partner through the life of the fund.

Guarantees

ADB extends guarantees for eligible projects which enable financing partners to transfer certain risks that they cannot easily absorb or manage on their own to ADB. Guarantees can be provided when ADB has a direct or indirect participation in a project or related sector, through a loan, equity investment or technical assistance.

Loan Syndication

ADB partners with commercial banks, impact investors, institutional investors, and development finance institutions to provide debt for projects though B loan, complementary financing scheme, and parallel loan structures.

Blended Finance

Blended concessional finance is the combination of concessional finance from donors or third parties, with the normal account finance of development finance institutions (DFIs) and/or commercial finance from other investors, used to develop private sector markets, address Sustainable Development Goals, and mobilize private resources.

ADB is a member of the DFI Working Group on Blended Concessional Finance for Private Sector Projects, which promotes best practice according to five principles: (i) rationale for using blended concessional finance, (ii) crowding-in and minimum concessionality, (iii) commercial sustainability, (iv) reinforcing markets, and (v) promoting high standards.

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ADB’s blended concessional finance facilities focus on catalyzing transactions and mobilizing investment in high development impact areas of strategic importance to ADB, including climate and gender.

Technical assistance

In addition to financial products, ADB also offers technical assistance (TA), on a selective basis, for public and private sector operations. This may include the following:

  • Transaction TA (TRTA), which directly benefits a project or is financed by ADB (e.g., project preparation, project implementation support, or policy advice). TRTA can also help develop a public–private partnership as part of transaction advisory services.
  • Knowledge and support TA (KSTA) includes all TAs other than transaction TA (e.g., general institutional capacity building, policy advice, and research).