IFC Talks CentAm DPRs

The IFC is looking at investing in remittance-backed transactions, particularly in Central America. “One product that we’re looking at a lot is the diversified payment rights (DPRs),” Rogerio Pilotto, the IFC’s Sao Paulo business development officer for structured and sub national finance, tells LatinFinance. “We haven’t done any in Latin America recently, but we’re having some discussions and we think there are specific countries in which we would have a role,” he adds. According to Pilotto, a DPR deal will likely happen with the multilateral’s involvement this year. The IFC acts as an investor – similar to its role in A/B loans – taking a 10%-20% stake on a $100m+ deal in order to catalyze private investment. Tenors tend to be around 5 years. Pilotto says the IFC is not looking to do DPRs in Brazil, or other developed markets, but more likely Central America. Pilotto notes that the latter contains “countries with a good risk profile but no access.” The IFC has only recently started to look at the DPR structure. “Before the crisis we didn’t see any role, but now we think there’s a strong role,” says Pilotto.