Philippine Export Development Facility

completed

Avalon Professional Web Trade has approached IFC and Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore, to establish the Philippine Export Development Facility. Standard Chartered Bank will manage the PEDF by ensuring that Agreed Facility Drawdown documentations and procedures are in place. The US$10 million facility, will provide trade and working capital financing through APW to SMEs that form a part of APW''s manufacturing network. Under PEDF, IFC would provide Standard Chartered a partial credit guarantee of 50% on all facility drawdowns for a total exposure of up to US$5 million.APW is a trading company, based in Singapore, that sources purchase orders (PO) from international buyers and subcontracts production on the POs to the APW network, initially in the Philippines. The APW network is comprised of SME manufacturers that are prequalified by APW based on detailed criteria including their experience, product quality, production reliability and environmental and social protection standards. SMEs that are a part of the APW network benefit from APW''s marketing activities abroad as well as financing for pre-export activities such as raw material procurement and labor cost. Moreover, the scale of the manufacturing network provides APW the requisite purchasing power to obtain volume discounts that were previously only available to larger manufacturers, and pass on such savings to the SMEs. Currently, APW finances the manufacturer''s pre-export operations with its own equity. However, as the production demand for APW-sourced products has grown, APW can no longer fund the SME''s growing financing needs with its equity base. Therefore, APW approached Standard Chartered and IFC to establish a facility to provide the SMEs with appropriate financing to grow their businesses.PEDF will fill the existing credit gap between banking institutions and SMEs. Because of IFC''s partial guarantee, the PEDF structure provides the necessary comfort for Standard Chartered to offer the facility to APW. Through the PEDF, SME manufacturers that lack collateral, size or bank relationships can independently secure working capital and trade financing. Ultimately, it is anticipated that the PEDF would result in increasing access to direct financing for the SMEs from either Standard Chartered or other lending institutions in the region. IFC is also considering a small technical assistance program to help the SME network further improve its occupational safety and environmental standards.The PEDF, a Facility arrangement by IFC, Standard Chartered Bank and APW will be able to (i) help SMEs obtain much-needed working capital presently unavailable due to the SMEs'' size and lack of collateral (ii) to increase SMEs'' market reach via APW''s marketing channels (iii) to create a conduit through which SMEs can benefit from volume raw material discounts and (iv) to demonstrate to local banks that such financing programs could be attractive options that could be compatible with their core operations. With IFC''s assistance, APW''s monitoring and control procedures are expected to professionalize the SMEs, promote greater transparency and establish satisfactory environmental and social norms in the SME workplace.