DLA Piper advises Banco Compartamos in loan agreements to support women-owned small businesses in Mexico

DLA Piper represented Banco Compartamos S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, Mexico’s largest microfinance institution, in obtaining US$70 million in loans from Citi, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which will be used to provide loans to primarily women-owned small businesses in Mexico.

The agreements will enable Banco Compartamos to continue lending to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a portion of the loans dedicated to less developed regions of the country, including Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla. In total, this collaboration will reach more than 135,000 small businesses, of which approximately 90 percent are expected to be women-owned.

“We were pleased to bring our extensive experience advising financial institutions in complex transactions to represent Banco Compartamos in these loan agreements,” said Edgar Romo, the DLA Piper partner who led the firm’s deal team. “These loans will allow a number of small and women-owned Mexican businesses to access financing that will enable them to create jobs, grow their enterprises and continue serving their communities.”

In addition to Romo (Mexico City), the DLA Piper team representing Banco Compartamos included partners Xavier Mangino (Mexico City) and William Candelaria (New York) and associates Emily Sanders (Miami), Adolfo Obregon and Javier Pichardini (both of Mexico City).

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