GLS Bank, the first social and ecological bank in Germany, has invested €13m ($14.81m) in the SANAD Fund for MSME, which promotes access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

This investment is in line with GLS Bank’s focus on sustainable investments.

The investment, the first private capital contribution to SANAD, increases SANAD’s total commitments to $186m and represents an important milestone in fulfilling its mission as a public‐private partnership.

GLS Bank focused its investment on the Notes of SANAD’s Debt Sub‐Fund.

The German investor said: “GLS Bank is strongly aware of the economic obstacles the MENA region has to overcome. This is today more apparent than ever before when considering the political and societal instability of several countries in the region. Supporting economic stability and sustainable growth is a core value of GLS Bank, and we consider SANAD a good investment vehicle for investor engagement.”

Initiated and funded by KfW Development Bank with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union in August 2011, the SANAD Fund for MSME (SANAD) provides medium‐ and long‐term debt and equity financing to commercial banks, microfinance institutions and other financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa.

The purpose of SANAD is to strengthen the local MSME sector and financial markets in line with the principles of responsible finance.

Eligible countries are currently Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen.

The fund’s activities are supported by a technical assistance facility, which provides capacity‐building support to partner institutions.

SANAD is a public‐private partnership, which is managed by a consortium consisting of Finance in Motion GmbH, Frankfurt/Main and Oppenheim Asset Management Services S.à r.l., Luxembourg.

Its target investor base is comprised of donor agencies, international financial institutions and institutional private investors, including the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), KfW, Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEB).

Wolfgang Reuss, Chairman of SANAD’s Board of Directors, said: “SANAD is delighted to announce the GLS Bank investment. The aim of GLS Bank to generate social, ecological and economic impact perfectly aligns with our mission to secure and create employment, to reduce poverty, and to foster an inclusive financial system across the MENA region."

"The investment of GLS Bank proves our ability to engage private investors to allocate development funding to the MENA region and provides clear evidence of the success of our public‐private partnership fund structure," he added.