**[Fact Sheet on OPIC Housing Investments and OPIC Supported Investment
Funds in Africa and CAFTA]{.underline}**

***[OPIC Housing]{.underline}***

OPIC has made support for low and moderate income housing development a
high priority. Beyond the obvious benefit of providing shelter, housing
provides a multitude of other benefits. It helps deepen the financial
services sector, increases employment for high as well as low skilled
workers, strengthens legal institutions, and provides families an asset
that can be used as collateral to fund entrepreneurial endeavors. OPIC
is involved in every aspect of housing development, including
construction, mortgage finance, mortgage‑backed securitization, the
manufacture of building materials, and the provision of
property‑registration and brokerage services.

Since 2001:

-   OPIC has provided more than \$1 billion in financing and insurance,

-   to leverage more than \$7 billion in additional capital,

-   to make possible more than 50 housing investments,

-   to build or mortgage more than 450,000 housing units.

While prudently managing the risks inherent in financing development in
the housing sector, OPIC is addressing the challenges confronting
housing investment in emerging markets. In particular, OPIC is:

-   encouraging private bank lending to under‑funded construction firms;

-   introducing building technologies that reduce housing costs;

-   offering debt financing for the development of primary
    infrastructure;

-   providing funding to encourage the availability of long‑term,
    fixed‑rate mortgage finance;

-   enabling homeownership for low‑income families by supporting
    lease‑purchase arrangements and by lending to banks for low‑income
    mortgages;

-   expanding access to credit for the informally employed through
    housing microfinance;

-   deepening housing finance markets through the development of
    mortgage‑backed securitization; and

-   developing housing resale markets by introducing U.S.‑style
    brokerage services.

In addition to the \$1 billion in housing finance and insurance already
committed, there is more than \$1.5 billion in prospective housing
investment in OPIC's project pipeline. These projects are expected to
bring innovation in housing investment, including:

-   securitization of local currency‑based mortgages, capped in U.S.
    dollars;

-   employer‑supported homeownership;

-   remittance‑based housing finance; and

-   private mortgage insurance.

***[OPIC Support for Investments in Sub-Saharan Africa and
CAFTA]{.underline}***

OPIC is currently providing almost \$2 billion in financing and
political‑risk insurance to 74 projects and investment funds in
sub-Saharan Africa, and over \$670 million to 42 projects and investment
funds in the CAFTA region.

**OPIC Supported Investment Funds in Africa**

OPIC has committed a total of \$270 million in guaranties for three
investment funds that will focus on sub-Saharan Africa: The EMP Africa
Fund II, the Ethos Fund V, and Helios Sub-Saharan Africa Fund.   Each of
these funds fulfills an OPIC mandate contained in the AGOA legislation
to establish equity funds in support of investment in sub-Saharan
Africa. 

-   **EMP Africa Fund II** targets investments in
    infrastructure-oriented industries in sub-Saharan Africa, including
    telecommunications, oil and gas, power, transportation and
    agribusiness. The fund is also investigating investments in the
    media, financial services and manufacturing sectors.

-   **Ethos Fund V** promotes the expansion of medium-sized enterprises
    in South Africa, with an emphasis on the manufacturing and services
    sectors. The fund also supports the country's effort to encourage
    black economic empowerment, as well as promote opportunities for
    women and low-income individuals through an arrangement with an
    investment firm, Sphere, which supports rural development and
    women-owned businesses.  

-   **Helios Sub-Saharan Africa Fund** makes investments in
    African-based subsidiaries of multi-national corporations and newly
    formed businesses with high growth potential serving supply-short
    product and service markets -- two segments of Africa's investment
    portfolio typically avoided by private equity firms. The fund
    focuses on West Africa, with an emphasis on Nigeria, but also on
    opportunities within countries of the Southern Africa Development
    Community.

**OPIC Supported Investment Funds in CAFTA**

## OPIC's Board of Directors has approved a total of \$510 million in guaranties for eight investment funds that can invest in CAFTA countries. 

## Since Mr. Mosbacher's visit to the region in May 2006, five funds with OPIC support of \$360 have been announced: 

## Darby Probanco II Fund was the result of IFD's Caribbean & Central America Call for Proposals issued in February 2006 and will focus on making investments in the financial services sector in the Central American countries, in particular providing financing to expand small-to-medium financing loans to entrepreneurs in the local countries. 

## AIC Caribbean Fund was also a result of the Caribbean & Central America Call, and will catalyze capital into new/expanding companies, and companies being privatized in the Caribbean region. Fund investments will focus on tourism, telecommunications, health care, energy and financial services.

## Paladin Realty Latin America Housing Finance Fund will seek to stimulate new housing by originating and investing in residential mortgages in Latin America, and will expand and advance local capital markets by securitizing mortgage pools targeted at both domestic and international investors. 

## Paladin Realty Global Investors III will target development opportunities within the real estate sector, with a primary focus on affordable housing. This will be a global fund, but with a Latin American primary focus. 

## Alsis Latin American Mortgage Fund will originate mortgages that range from \$10,000 to \$40,000 and securitize mortgage pools targeting domestic and international investors in Central and South America, with a particular focus in Mexico, Brazil, and the Andean region.

## 

## In addition, three funds with \$150 million of OPIC support have remaining capacity for CAFTA investments: 

## Darby-BBVA Latin American Holdings is generating long term capital appreciation through direct investment in equity and quasi equity securities of companies that are new, expanding, or in the process of being privatized in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

## Latin Power III Investments, managed by Conduit Capital Partners, will invest in mid-sized independent electrical generation projects in Latin America focusing on renewable energy. The fund is expected to dedicate between 30 percent of 50 percent of its total capital to CAFTA-DR countries.

## Paladin Realty Latin America Investors II will target development opportunities within the real estate sector in Latin America, with a primary focus on affordable housing and middle-income housing. 

##