Ujjivan Financial Services, urban poor-focused microfinance institutions, has raised Rs 127.9 crore ($25.5 million) in its fifth round of equity funding.

Two new foreign institutional investors FMO (Netherlands Development Finance Company) and WCP Mauritius Holdings III (Wolfensohn Capital Partners) and existing investors have participated in the funding.

Mr Samit Ghosh, Managing Director, Ujjivan, said, “We welcome our two new investors. This round of equity funding will make Ujjivan one of the best capitalised MFIs in the country”.

With this round of equity funding, the last being in 2009, Ujjivan's capitalisation has more than doubled to Rs 230 crore.

Kotak Investment Banking was the advisor and arranger of the transaction.

Mr Sanjiv Kapur, Managing Director, Wolfensohn India Advisors Pvt Ltd, said “This is the first investment for Wolfensohn in the Indian microfinance sector, endorsing our faith in the sector and in Ujjivan's financial inclusion model”.

Mrs Sudha Suresh, Ujjivan's Chief Financial Officer, indicated that the additional capital will help increase the loan book from the current Rs 600 crore to around Rs 1,600 crore given the Reserve Bank of India's 15 per cent capital adequacy requirement for NBFC-MFIs.

“We are very happy to work with Ujjivan, which is constantly searching for ways to better serve the urban poor.

“Their firm focus on their mission to alleviate poverty and strong business credentials make Ujjivan a very interesting partner for FMO” said Mr Keesjan de Kruijf, Senior Investment Officer, FMO.

Ujjivan's existing investors who also participated in the fifth round of funding include Lok Capital, India Financial Inclusion Fund (Caspian Advisors), Sequoia Capital, Mauritius Unitus Corporation and Elevar Equity.

anil.u@thehindu.co.in

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