UK investment supports World Bank Group strategy to mobilise private capital through capital markets
15 June, London. The UK government’s MOBILIST programme made a second equity investment in the World Bank Group’s Emerging Market Securitisation Programme (EMSP), backing a model designed to mobilise private capital into emerging markets through publicly listed instruments on the London Stock Exchange (LSEG).
Through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group has closed its second securitisation transaction under the EMSP. Building on the inaugural issuance in September 2025, this second transaction reinforces the viability of the World Bank Group’s originate-to-distribute model and supports the development of a scalable platform for institutional investment in emerging market credit.
Creating a template for future transactions
EMSP gives institutional investors access to diversified, high-quality IFC-originated emerging market credit through rated, listed instruments in a format they understand. By combining IFC’s origination with catalytic equity from both IFC and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s MOBILIST programme, the EMSP is creating the conditions for repeat issuance, broader investor participation, and the gradual development of a new asset class for emerging markets.
By investing in the first two EMSP transactions, MOBILIST is helping to create a template for future transactions and attract new investors. These transactions have issued over $1 billion. The second issuance also helps sustain the investor momentum established by the inaugural transaction. As repeat issuance builds a market track record, and now including an Aa1-rated tranche, the programme is expected to broaden the investor base, improve transaction economics over time, and strengthen the case for emerging market securitisation as a new asset class.
Recycling capital and crowding in private capital
By transforming loan participation into tradable securities, IFC can recycle capital and expand its capacity to support private sector growth in developing countries. By building on the inaugural structure, EMSP is moving beyond proof of concept and towards the regular issuance needed to build investor confidence, deepen market infrastructure, and establish emerging market securitisation as an investable asset class. This is where MOBILIST’s role is most important: not only helping to crowd in capital for individual transactions but helping to create the conditions for future replication.
Partnership with the World Bank Group
MOBILIST’s investment also comes after the recent launch of the World Bank’s London Financial Solutions Hub, another initiative that aims to mobilise private capital to emerging markets.
UK Minister for Development, Jenny Chapman, said: “This investment shows how we are putting innovative approaches to development finance into practice. This will mean the IFC can invest more into spurring development in the Global South. It also demonstrates our modern development approach in action, moving from donor to investor, and draws on the UK’s financial expertise to help connect mainstream private investors with opportunities like this that can grow development finance at scale.”
“Capital that reaches the private sector in emerging markets is capital that creates jobs,” said John Gandolfo, IFC Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “This second transaction shows we can mobilise that capital into the sectors where it does the most to expand employment and opportunity, connecting institutional investors with the businesses that drive growth across developing economies.”
Unpacking the transaction structure
The transaction attracted strong investor interest and is structured with multiple tranches to meet risk-return preferences. The structure includes $320 million and $50 million senior tranches sold to private investors, rated Aaa and Aa by Moody’s, and both listed on the LSEG, $80 million mezzanine tranche insured by a consortium of credit insurers, and $59 million equity tranche held in partnership by the IFC and MOBILIST. The investors participating in the transaction include PIMCO as anchor investor, Shizuoka Bank, Sona Asset Management, and other institutional investors.
