Applying for funding

Eligibility

The OPEC Fund, in accordance with its mandate, does not operate in OPEC Member Countries. In selecting clients, the guiding principle is the end-use of proceeds from the Facility and the economic benefit from the private sector development. An eligible client, or in the case of a financial intermediary, an eligible end-beneficiary, should normally be located in a country where the OPEC Fund has executed a framework agreement and will generally satisfy the following requirements.

Clients / beneficiaries should be:

• majority privately owned, commercially feasible enterprises operating under sustainable legal and environmental conditions
• sponsored by reliable promoters with appropriate skills and experience in the business field concerned.

These include:

• commercial banks, leasing companies, housing finance companies and investment banks
• private equity funds, generally focusing on equity investments in SMEs
• national and/or regional development banks
• microfinance institutions.

The Facility offers appropriate flexibility in the use of proceeds through its various instruments and products. These include financing for:

• acquisition of fixed and moveable assets
• other capitalized costs such as pre-operating expenditures, initial working capital, interest and financial charges during
• construction, and technological, intellectual and marketing rights
• financial restructuring and the replacement of temporary financing facilities (under certain circumstances)
• on-lending to SMEs and for microfinance lending (through lines of credit)
• capital markets development
• infrastructure
• social sector.

Commercially managed and financially and operationally autonomous enterprises that either:

• act as a channel for financial support to local private enterprises; or
• are earmarked for privatization; and/or
• are joint-ventures between a government and a foreign investor.

An eligible project is an expansion, rehabilitation, diversification or greenfield (new) project that is commercially, technically, ethically, legally and environmentally sound and that is deemed to contribute meaningful economic and social benefits to the host country.

How to apply

Applications for OPEC Fund private sector financing are invited from interested parties. Initial documentation should include:

• project description and objective
• brief outline of general market environment, the sectors concerned and future prospects
• introduction to the organizational, ownership and managerial structures of the proposed project including financial and managerial information on project sponsors, promoters and other concerned parties
• background information on the economic environment and regulatory environment within which the proposed project will operate
• financial information on the proposed project (past, current and projected), including level, type and justification of funding required.

Please note that a feasibility study and/or business plan, as well as other required documentation, will be requested from the applicant upon favorable progress of project review and consideration.

Please use our contact form.