30730 - AllianceBernstein Next 50 Emerging Markets Project

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Summary of Investment Information

Project Number

30730

Company Name

ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN NEXT 50 EMERGING MARKETS (LUXEMBOURG) FUND SICAV-SIF S.C.SP

Date SPI Disclosed

May 31, 2013

Country

World Region

Region

Global

Projected Board Date

Jun 21, 2012

Environmental Category

FI-3 - No Impact

Status

Completed

Last Updated Date

May 3, 2024

Department

WBG Prosperity

Industry

Funds

Previous Events

Approved : May 21, 2013
Signed : May 30, 2013
Invested : Jun 20, 2014

Sector

Other

Project Description

The Project is an initiative in which AllianceBernstein will deploy cross‐border investment capital into publicly traded private sector equities in smaller and frontier markets, in which IFC expects to provide anchor capital.

The project will be accompanied by a parallel, but separately funded and managed Advisory Services program managed by IFC. This program will aim to improve underpinnings for sustainable capital markets development in a subset of smaller and frontier markets included in this initiative.

Sponsor / Cost / Location

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan
Equity	100.0

Development Impact

Increased cross-border flows prompted by the project will help to make equity markets in smaller and frontier countries more robust by - among other things - improving market liquidity, issuer transparency and disclosure, as well as overall equity market infrastructure. In turn, such improvements should facilitate future primary market issuance and financing options for companies in these countries, thereby promoting economic growth and enabling poverty reduction. Development of equity markets in targeted smaller and frontier countries will also benefit from the IFC Advisory Services program.

E&S Category Rationale / Risks and Mitigation

The IFC’s objective for the project is to promote more rapid development and growth of local capital markets in a set of smaller and frontier markets. The project will result in investment in listed securities, primarily through secondary market purchases rather than direct investments in companies. As such,

operations of investee companies will generally not receive new funding; instead, their shares will be purchased in the secondary marketplace. Furthermore, only minority non‐controlling equity stakes would be purchased, and there would be no active involvement in the management of portfolio companies.

Given the absence of new funding for the operations of investee companies, direct exposure to E&S portfolio risk is limited. Nevertheless, portfolio companies could present reputational risks, should they exhibit poor E&S performance. The investment approach designed for this project will help mitigate this risk, but – more importantly – also provides an opportunity to promote and demonstrate more active investment approaches to E&S issues.

Because listed investee companies typically do not provide non-public information about their business activities, investee companies will be pre-screened based upon information publically available against objectives contained in the current IFC Performance Standards. The investment program in addition to

the relevant screening will also include ongoing monitoring/supervision of portfolio investments related

to E&S issues, an exit strategy to divest from companies that have been identified with serious E&S issues as well as limitations for investing in high risk sectors.

Taking the nature of this IFC investment into account as well as the fact that direct exposure to E&S portfolio risk will be limited this project was categorized as FI3.

Contacts

For Inquiries About the Project, Contact

Meera Narayanaswamy, Senior Investment Officer, IFC – mailto:mnarayanaswamy@ifc.org
Xavier A. Jordan, Chief Investment Officer, IFC – mailto:xjordan@ifc.org

For Inquiries and Comments About IFC, Contact

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2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
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Local Access of Project Documentation

Jonathan Freedman
Media Relations — US
mailto:jonathan.freedman@alliancebernstein.com
212-823-2687
AllianceBernstein L.P.
1345 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10105

http://www.alliancebernstein.com

IFC supports its clients in addressing environmental and social issues arising from their business activities by requiring its real sector clients to set up and administer appropriate grievance mechanisms and/or procedures to address complaints from Affected Communities in relation to environmental and social issues arising from IFC's clients' business activities. Since 2012, IFC's Financial Intermediary clients applying the Performance Standards are required to develop External Communications Mechanisms to receive and review inquiries or complaints from any interested party regarding the E&S risks and impacts of their operations.

For IFC projects that are active or under consideration, individual(s), or their authorized representative(s), who allege they have been or will be adversely affected by E&S risks or impacts arising from IFC's clients' business activities, may submit a complaint to IFC directly for consideration. When receiving an E&S complaint, IFC engages with complainants and works with its clients to find solutions to E&S concerns as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Complaints can be submitted to IFC online at www.ifc.org/escomplaints or by email to EScomplaints@ifc.org.

IFC complaint response is separate from and complementary to IFC’s clients’ project level grievance mechanisms and IFC’s Independent Accountability Mechanism (CAO). Lodging a complaint directly with IFC does not, at any time, restrict access to CAO.

Affected communities have unrestricted access to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism for IFC and MIGA. CAO facilitates the resolution of complaints related to IFC and MIGA projects and sub-projects, undertakes reviews of IFC’s and MIGA’s environmental and social compliance, fosters public accountability for their commitments, and enhances the environmental and social performance of IFC and MIGA.

Independent of IFC and MIGA management and reporting directly to the IFC and MIGA Boards of Executive Directors, CAO helps resolve issues raised about the environmental and social impacts of projects through a neutral, collaborative, problem-solving approach via its Dispute Resolution function. It also reviews IFC’s and MIGA’s compliance with environmental and social policies, assesses related harm, and recommends remedial actions through its Compliance function. Additionally, CAO provides advice to IFC, MIGA, and their Boards to enhance environmental and social sustainability performance and minimize the risk of harm.

Complaints may relate to environmental and social harm regarding any aspect of the planning, implementation, or impact of a project or sub-project, and can be made by any individual, group, community, entity, or other party affected or likely to be affected by the environmental or social impacts of an IFC- or MIGA-financed business activity.

Complaints can be submitted by any of the following methods:

Online form: available at https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/
Mail/Hand Delivery to: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
Voice mail: +1 202 458 1973
Email: cao@worldbankgroup.org
SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal: +1 202 650 2627

CAO receives and addresses complaints in accordance with the CAO Policy, which can be accessed at: https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/policies-guidelines.

This Summary of Investment Information (SII) is prepared by IFC to disclose a factual summary of the main elements of the potential investment. It also includes findings and recommendations related to environmental and social considerations regarding this potential investment. The purpose of the SII is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities. For any project documentation or data included or attached herein, whether prepared by the project sponsor or otherwise, authorization has been given for public release by the project sponsor. IFC considers that this SII is of adequate quality for release to the public, but has not necessarily independently verified all of the project information therein. It is distributed in advance of IFC Board of Directors’ consideration and may be periodically updated thereafter. Board dates are estimates only and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board Directors’ decision. The following SII is disclosed in accordance with IFC's Access to Information Policy (AIP) that went into effect on January 1, 2012.

The map is for illustrative purposes and does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the World Bank, concerning the legal status of any country or territory or concerning the delimitation of frontiers or boundaries. Country borders or names do not necessarily reflect the World Bank Group's official position. In some cases, available project location information is limited to the country of the project's activities. Locations are approximate.

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