DAI Acquires International Asset Management Firm, MicroVest

BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DAI announced today that it has acquired MicroVest Capital Management ("MicroVest"), one of the world's leading lenders to responsible finance institutions—an acquisition that will expand the capabilities of DAI's investment management arm, DAI Capital.

Founded in 2003, MicroVest is a registered investment adviser that allocates private investments to financial institutions that serve disadvantaged and underbanked enterprises in emerging markets. The company has disbursed more than US$1 billion to some 200 financial institutions across 60 countries to help create economic opportunities and facilitate financial inclusion. 

Active in more than 100 countries, employee-owned DAI works with governments, donors, corporations, and philanthropies to deliver integrated development solutions across technical disciplines including economic development, sustainable business, climate change and the environment, governance, gender, and health.

The combination of DAI and MicroVest reflects the two firms' shared commitment to mobilize private sector capital to create jobs, reduce poverty, and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

"This acquisition is about driving productive investment and economic growth in the places that need it most," said DAI President and CEO Jim Boomgard. "Combining with MicroVest adds a rich vein of expertise to DAI's existing asset management team, connects that combined team to a wider network of investors, and provides DAI a platform on which to build a world class, high-impact asset management business."

MicroVest, DAI's first acquisition in the asset management space, will enhance DAI Capital's ability to mobilize and deploy private capital in frontier and emerging markets. The transaction complements DAI's recent acquisition of Magister Advisors, an investment advisor focused on the Africa and MENA region. As part of DAI Capital, MicroVest will retain its management team and continue to benefit from the leadership of MicroVest Founder, Gil Crawford.

"I am delighted to join forces with DAI for this next phase of MicroVest's growth," said Crawford. "In its 50 years of operation, DAI has found the right formula to balance a global perspective with local insights. DAI's local networks and technical domain expertise represent an infusion of new, added value to MicroVest's investors, portfolio companies, and stakeholders."

DAI Board member Elizabeth Littlefield—former President and CEO of OPIC (now the Development Finance Corporation, or DFC)—welcomed the announcement. "Promoting sustainable development on a scale that truly makes a difference to people and planet requires mobilizing vastly greater sums of private funds," said Littlefield. "The marriage of DAI's global development expertise and MicroVest's investment acumen is the right intersection of the right networks at the right time."

About DAI
Founded in 1970, DAI is a global development company with corporate offices across five continents. The company takes on fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability. DAI Capital is DAI's asset management and investment advisory arm, dedicated to mobilizing private capital in frontier and emerging markets. DAI Capital advances DAI's mission by channeling investment in these markets, which promotes economic growth, creates jobs, and reduces poverty.

About MicroVest
MicroVest specializes in allocating private debt capital to responsible microfinance and small and medium-sized enterprise finance institutions serving unbanked and underbanked microentrepreneurs and small businesses in emerging markets. As one of the first U.S.-based microfinance investors, MicroVest has built a track record since 2003 of investing in institutions whose interests are aligned with the borrowers and communities they serve.

MicroVest is a registered investment adviser, Certified B Corporation, and wholly-owned subsidiary of MicroVest General Partner Holding LLC, a Delaware statutory Public Benefit LLC whose purpose is to create scalable investment opportunities that support enterprising ventures and projects in underserved or underfinanced sectors and communities worldwide. MicroVest is a Signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and The Operating Principles for Impact Management.

SOURCE DAI; MicroVest Capital Management