The Advans network currently spans nine countries: Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, Pakistan, Nigeria and Tunisia.

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, holds 19.9% of Amret’s share capital, with the aim of increasing lending to micro and smaller businesses, as well as low- to middle-income borrowers in Cambodia.

“With IFC’s support, we strongly believe that our business will grow more rapidly and reach more small businesses and individuals seeking loans,” said Chea Phalarin, CEO of Amret.

IFC is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in about 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. HE Kim Vada, director general of bank supervision at the NBC, welcomed the investment from foreign partners emphasizing investor confidence in Cambodia's financial sector.

“I do believe Amret will keep expanding its business coverage by introducing creative products and services to serve the customer,” he said

Advans SA is pleased to announce that it has become the majority shareholder in the Cambodian microfinance institution Amret.

“We are proud to say that Amret is now a full subsidiary of the Advans group and we believe that our reinforced partnership will be beneficial for Amret and the development of the group as a whole,” said Claude Falgon, chairman of the board at Amret and executive director of Advans.

The move, approved in early 2015 by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), saw Advans SA purchase 8.4% of Amret’s shares to increase its ownership from 44.4% to 52.8%.

Amret is a leading microfinance institution in Cambodia serving small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in areas with low- and middle-income populations. They focus on rural agricultural areas and provincial cities.

Amret currently employs over 2,900 staff and serves over 367,000 clients from 128 branches across Cambodia. The business holds over US$156 million in outstanding deposits and over US$309 million in outstanding loans.

Advans SA is headquartered in Luxembourg and was created in August 2005 by Horus Development Finance (Horus). It boasts capital of 63.6 million euros. Its mission is to build a network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing and emerging countries to cater to the financial needs of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, which have limited or no access to formal banking services.