BicBanco is held by the Bezerra de Menezes family, who currently holds approximately 70% of total shares of BicBanco. Over 29% of the total shares represent the Bank’s free float.

The proposed IFC investment involves the full subscription of local currency denominated notes issued by BIC for an amount up to $25 million equivalent.

25.0 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	25.0
Equity

* These investment figures are indicative

BIC is headquartered in Sao Paulo and operates 39 branches in Brazil and one branch located in Cayman. While the Bank has national coverage, which includes 28 cities. BicBanco’s operations are largely located in the Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil, where most middle-market companies are based.

The project is expected to: expand access to credit to health and education SMEs through a wholesaling approach; enhance BicBanco’s service capacity by providing IFC industry expertise (best practices) and contacts; support the developing access by the population to health & education services; lend credibility to the market by reaching smaller institutions with competitive products; and help strengthen the competitiveness of H&E mid-sized companies.

The Project will support the growth and expansion of BicBancos’s operation in a particular industry segment, which has high social and developmental impact, by offering long-term local currency funding, which currently difficult to access in the Brazilian market. This term financing structure will contribute to strengthening BicBanco’s asset liability structure and will also provide a seal of approval in the aftermath of the end of 2008 liquidity crunch.

This project has been classified as a Category FI project according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedure.

During appraisal, IFC will analyze the activities proposed to be supported by IFC and determine the Applicable Performance Requirements, which would include a combination of: the IFC Exclusion List; the applicable National Social and Environmental Laws and regulations and/or the IFC Performance Standards.

IFC will also appraise the FI’s labor practices according to the IFC’s Performance Standards 2: Labor and Working Conditions. Under an existing project, the client has developed a satisfactory Social & Environmental Management System (SEMS). Since this project targets the Health and Education sector, the client may be required to upgrade its SEMS to improve assessment of E&S risk in these sectors. Based on the review, the project will be required to: Upgrade, if necessary, the SEMS, prior to disbursement to the satisfaction of IFC; commit to implement the SEMS, to ensure that its investments/activities are in compliance with the Applicable Performance Requirements; Demonstrate commitment to applying the labor standards established by the IFC Performance Standard 2: Labor and Working Conditions; and submit a periodic report to IFC as per a format to be provided by IFC.