Highlights

2019 was the first year for the fund under the new name “Building Prospects”, and with a renewed mandate and strategy. As part of the new strategy, it has increased the exposure in the agribusiness value chain and forestry. The Fund maintained the infrastructure theme through investments in large renewable energy projects. It has doubled the production of the previous year, while maintaining a stable level of revolvability, reaching 95.7% at the end of the year. This is a good result fitting the mandate of the fund.

Building Prospects’ fund capital at year end was EUR 331 million. Its portfolio counted 62 clients in 22 individual countries and 4 regions. It has made 15 new investments in 2019. Additionally, 2019 was the first year where Building Prospects had its own budget for Capacity Development, and it has funded 9 CD projects, supporting clients in improving their performance and impact. Building Prospects ended the year with a negative comprehensive income of - EUR 3.6 million, down from EUR 11.5 million at the end of 2018, due to increased impairments on loans and negative fair value development on equity investments. As the fund has a target revolvability of 100%, we recognize that occasional losses are an inherent outcome of being a high-risk fund, which are compensated for by positive incomes in other years.

Finally, the fund has added an additional layer of impact monitoring, where clients will be asked to set targets in their impact and track their progress in the years following contracting. This will allow for lessons learned to provide feedback for future investments.