This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of the IFC Board of Directors’ consideration of the proposed transaction. Its purpose is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities, and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board decision. Board dates are estimates only.
Summary of Project Information (SPI)
Project number 21223
Project nameRAEF Facility
CountryRomania
SectorFinance & Insurance
DepartmentGlobal Financial Markets Group
Company nameRomanian-American Enterprise Fund
Environmental categoryFI-1
Date SPI disclosedOctober 21, 2003
Projected board dateDecember 20, 2003
StatusCompleted
Previous EventsInvested: July 23, 2004
Signed: June 8, 2004
Approved: May 26, 2004

Project sponsor and major shareholders of project company
RAEF is a private not-for-profit Delaware company whose mission is to promote free enterprise and entrepreneurship in Romania through investments in and loans to small and medium size enterprises. Established by the President and the U.S. Congress in 1994, RAEF was capitalized in January 1995 at $50 million through a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is part of a number of enterprise funds targeting Eastern Europe which were formed in accordance with the principles of the U.S. support for Eastern European nascent democracies and encompassed the Support for East European Democracy Act (SEED Act of the US Congress 1989).

Total project cost and proposed IFC investment
It is proposed that IFC invest $3 million in the form of a credit line

Location of project and description of site
RAEF is headquartered in Bucharest. CAPA operates in Bucharest and Eastern Romania. CHF was launched in Timisoara and operates throughout Western Romania, including Deva, Arad and Resita. OMRO operates in Targu Mures and the Transylvania region.

Description of company and purpose of project
The project involves a $3 million credit line to Romanian-American Enterprise Fund (RAEF) for on-lending to three non-governmental organization-led micro loan programs. These sub-borrowers are Credit, Assistance and Business training (CAPA), Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) and Opportunity Microcredit Romania, S.A. (OMRO). RAEF works with these three partners because each serves a different part of Romania, thereby allowing the benefits of micro credit to be spread to the widest number of micro-enterprise recipients.

Environmental and social issues - Category FI-1
RAEF will be required to establish and maintain an environmental management system to ensure that relevant lending activities of its partners are consistent with IFC’s Microfinance Exclusion List and in compliance with applicable Romanian laws.



To contact the project company, please write to:
Mr. Bill Wingate, Chief Financial Officer
Romania
Fax: (40-21) 210-0701