SOFID, Portugal's development financier and the InvestimoZ facility

The mandate, and the deliberate limit on it

SOFID's stated mission is to contribute to sustainable development in developing countries and to increase productive and commercial relations with them, stimulating their economic and social progress, in coordination with those governments' own objectives and with the Portuguese government's strategy on economy, cooperation, and official development assistance.

It also states a limit on itself that is worth reading. SOFID describes its intervention as complementary to the offer of commercial banks and to other internationalization instruments, intervening only where it adds value to an operation. That is an additionality test expressed as an operating rule rather than as a policy statement.

It accompanies Portuguese companies' internationalization by supporting their investment projects in low and middle income countries.

The products

SOFID provides medium and long-term loans and bank guarantees, and originates financial resources through its partners for investment projects in emerging and developing countries. It also provides financial structuring and advisory services focused on mobilising debt or equity through partner institutions, drawing on its network with other development finance institutions and multilateral institutions.

As an EDFI member it can access co-financing with its peer institutions for projects that need additional financial capacity, and it notes EDFI's mandate from the European Commission to manage the ElectriFI and AgriFI funds for the energy and agriculture sectors.

The published loan terms, and what they attach to

The SOFID loan is a credit facility of up to 70 percent of the total investment, extended to the Portuguese company so that it can make supplies or supplementary contributions to its local investee. The maximum term is ten years, including up to three years of capital grace, with monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly payments in arrears and interest at a variable rate of Euribor plus a spread.

Read that carefully, because the 70 percent is a share of the total investment and the borrower is the Portuguese company rather than the local business. This is a product for financing a Portuguese company's outbound investment, not a facility a local company applies to.

Beneficiaries include Portuguese small and medium-sized enterprises and larger Portuguese companies, including commercially managed public companies. Projects must sit in eligible emerging or developing countries and comply with local legal requirements.

No universal SOFID ticket is publicly stated on the sources cited here.

InvestimoZ is a separate facility with its own terms

The Fundo Português de Apoio ao Investimento em Moçambique, known as InvestimoZ, is managed by SOFID and has capital of EUR 93.6 million. SOFID describes it as a unique instrument for Portuguese companies wanting to invest or increase their investment in Mozambique.

Its purpose is to mobilise financial resources for investment projects in structuring sectors of the Mozambican market, specifically energy and especially renewable energy, the environment, and infrastructure, subject to criteria of economic and financial sustainability. Its beneficiaries are Portuguese companies developing foreign direct investment projects in Mozambique, directly or indirectly, and its modalities include participating in share capital alongside the promoter.

InvestimoZ's capital, its country, and its modalities belong to that facility. They are not SOFID's general terms, and this page keeps the two apart for that reason.

How this may fit

The general development finance readiness layer applies, and the DFI pathway guide covers it. What is specific to SOFID is who the borrower is.

• Establish the Portuguese connection first. The borrower is a Portuguese company, so a fund or company with no Portuguese sponsor is describing something SOFID's products do not reach.
• If you are a Portuguese company investing abroad, the SOFID loan finances up to 70 percent of the total investment over up to ten years with up to three years of capital grace.
• If the destination is Mozambique, look at InvestimoZ separately, since it has its own capital, sectors, and modalities including equity alongside the promoter.
• Be ready for the added-value test, since SOFID states it intervenes only where it complements what commercial banks and other instruments already offer.
• Consider the advisory and structuring route if the need is to mobilise debt or equity from partner institutions rather than to borrow from SOFID directly.
• Ask about sizing, because no universal ticket is published.