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Summary of Investment Information

Project Number

47889

Company Name

Avatar Fund

Date SPI Disclosed

Nov 20, 2023

Country

World Region

Region

Global

Projected Board Date

Nov 9, 2023

Environmental Category

FI-1 - Significant

Status

Active

Last Updated Date

Sep 7, 2025

Department

WBG Prosperity

Industry

Funds

Previous Events

Approved : Nov 9, 2023
Signed : Sep 4, 2025
Invested : Sep 5, 2025

Sector

Other Non-Private Equity Fund

Project Description

The project involves the establishment of a blue investment vehicle (the Fund) along with T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TRP or the Fund Manager) as co-investor and Fund Manager, to mobilize international investor funding for investments in blue bonds issued by emerging market real sector firms, financial institutions, projects, and sub-nationals. The Fund will ensure that the mobilized resources achieve the desired impact objectives of supporting UN SDG 6 “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation” and SDG 14 “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources”, while at the same time consolidating market standards for this nascent asset class. The Fund will be structured as a single-tranche closed-ended vehicle with an initial fund life of 10 years.

Sponsor / Cost / Location

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan
Equity	75.0

IFC's loan to the financial institution described in this SII is targeted for on-lending to the following sector(s):

Product Type	Use of Proceeds
Straight Equity	Labeled: Green;Blue;Social-Loans/Bonds

IFC's Definitions of Targeted Sectors can be found here.

Development Impact

The most significant expected project-level outcome includes a substantial increase in access to finance for blue projects for real sector companies and financial institutions in emerging markets. At the market level, IFC anticipates that the investment will foster adoption of best practices related to the issuance of blue bonds, leading to an increased supply of financing for blue projects in emerging markets.

E&S Category Rationale / Risks and Mitigation

As part of the project, the Fund Manager will screen out investments in bonds supporting assets exposed to certain E&S risks such as involuntary resettlement, significant community impacts or risk of adverse impacts on Indigenous People, significant risks to or impacts on cultural heritage, significant retrenchment, significant occupational health and safety risks to workers, or significant impacts on biodiversity as well as those exposed to the Exclusion List activities, and those not meeting relevant national E&S laws. The project will also exclude bonds supporting coal-related activities and issuers with significant exposures to fossil fuels. However, despite applying the above-mentioned exclusions there is still a possibility that the proceeds from some bonds could finance activities with higher E&S risks, and therefore the project is categorized as FI-1. The key E&S risks of the project are related to the underlying activities supported by the bonds that will comprise the portfolio of the Fund. Given the broad scope of the investments, the Fund will be exposed to E&S risks in a variety of sectors. The uniqueness of capital market investments in the instruments supported by the project requires proper selection of assets upfront. The Fund Manager will not necessarily have bilateral relationships with project sponsors of assets to be supported through bond issuances. Additionally, the Fund Manager will not be able to contractually require E&S performance improvements or conduct assessment of E&S risks at the asset level. The E&S due diligence process will be conducted by qualified ESG analysts and mainly based on verifying publicly available information, including information acquired from specialized market data providers and applying special filters such as excluded activities and consistency with the key objectives of the Performance Standards.

IFC's appraisal has confirmed that the Fund Manager has a sophisticated E&S risk management process for the assets supported by the project, including application of exclusions based on E&S risks and issues, assessment of E&S risks based on publicly available information as well as the Fund Manager’s independent review of issuers. TRP has a large in-house team of ESG analysts that assesses and rates issuers based on a proprietary ESG methodology. For this Fund, TRP will use its Responsible Investing Indicator Model (RIIM) framework for corporate securities. Under the framework, credit analysts conduct ESG analysis at the issuer level, which incorporates in-house ESG Specialists, third-party research and data providers, TRP’s own independent due diligence, as well as consultations with portfolio managers. The analysis is combined into a RIIM profile for each issuer with a corresponding E&S risk category: Red, Orange, and Green. This is supplemented by a “Do No Significant Harm” filter, which assesses how the issuer impacts other SDGs, as well as reputational risk screening assessments for controversies. Issuers with a Red RIIM score or those subject to restrictions agreed with IFC will be excluded from the Fund. Those rated as Orange will be considered only if they are on a path to improve their score. As part of the monitoring for the issuers, the RIIM assessment will be conducted on a continuous basis. In addition, the Blue Bond Investment Committee will meet monthly and on an ad hoc basis to assess any issues that may arise from regular monitoring, reputational risk screening, or a site visit by a portfolio manager.

No ESAP is required.

IFC supports its clients in addressing environmental and social issues arising from their business activities by requiring them to set up and administer appropriate grievance mechanisms and/or procedures to address complaints from Affected Communities.

In addition, Affected Communities have unrestricted access to the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism for IFC. The CAO is mandated to address complaints from people affected by IFC-supported business activities in a manner that is fair, objective , and constructive, with the goal of improving environmental and social project outcomes and fostering greater public accountability of IFC.

Independent of IFC management and reporting directly to the World Bank Group President, the CAO works to resolve complaints using a flexible, problem-solving approach through its dispute resolution arm and oversees project-level audits of IFC’s environmental and social performance through its compliance arm.

Complaints may relate to any aspect of IFC-supported business activities that is within the mandate of the CAO. They 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-financed business activity. Complaints can be submitted to the CAO in writing to the address below:

Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman
International Finance Corporation
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Room F11K-232
Washington, DC 20433 USA
Tel: 1 202 458 1973
Fax: 1 202 522 7400
E-mail: cao@worldbankgroup.org

The CAO receives and addresses complaints in accordance with the criteria set out in its Operational Guidelines which are available at: www.cao-ombudsman.org

Contacts

For Inquiries About the Project, Contact

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.
Bill Benintende
Head of Investment Public Relations
+1-410-345-3482
Bill.Benintende@troweprice.com
100 East Pratt, Mail code: BA-0315, Baltimore, MD 21202
www.troweprice.com

For Inquiries and Comments About IFC, Contact

General IFC Inquiries
IFC Communications
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

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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