<article><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.asiaiix.com/" target="_blank">Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX)</a>, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/shujog" target="_blank">Shujog</a> and global private equity major <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/KKR" target="_blank">KKR</a> have helped Philippines-based vaccine firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.glovax.ph" target="_blank">Glovax Biotech</a> raise $1 million in credit from BDO Universal Bank, the companes announced on Tuesday.
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<a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.asiaiix.com/" target="_blank">Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX)</a>, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/shujog" target="_blank">Shujog</a> and global private equity major <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/KKR" target="_blank">KKR</a> have helped Philippines-based vaccine firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.glovax.ph" target="_blank">Glovax Biotech</a> raise $1 million in credit from BDO Universal Bank, the companes announced on Tuesday.
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Glovax Biotec said it will use the credit line to scale operations by building a network of doctors, increasing the volume of vaccines it imports and distributes and also expanding its branded VaxCen clinics.
Glovax is a fully integrated vaccine company in the Philippines that imports, distributes and retails vaccines at affordable rates to the low-to-middle-income Filipinos, functioning as a social enterprise.
The IIX, Shujog and KKR partnership was aimed at providing essential financial, operational and analytical expertise to allow position Glovax for further funding. Executives from IIX, KKR, and <a href="http://www.kkr.com/our-firm/kkr-capstone" target="_blank">KKR Capstone</a> – an independent team of operational experts – conducted site visits and assessed Glovax’s business model and social impact. They helped the company develop a business plan, financial model and impact assessment, their joint statement added.
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Glovax founder and CEO, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.glovax.ph/founder-and-ceo.html" target="_blank">Giovanni Alingog</a>, said, “I know first-hand that good health is the foundation upon which people advance in society. I wanted to create a business in the Philippines that gives families access to vaccines when they would not otherwise receive them so that they may have healthier lives.”
According to <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus" target="_blank">Muhamad Yunus</a>, the founder of <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.grameen-info.org" target="_blank">Grameen Bank</a>, there can be two types of <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.muhammadyunus.org/index.php/social-business/social-business" target="_blank">social business</a>: A Type One business focusing on businesses dealing with social objectives only, or a Type Two which takes up any profitable business, so long as it is owned by the poor and the disadvantaged, who can gain through receiving direct dividends or some indirect benefits.
These two separate social business categories can also be hybridised into a social business model, as happened with Grameen Bank.
According to Alingog, Glovax Biotech <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://business.inquirer.net/187179/vaccines-give-ventures-bottom-line-a-big-boost" target="_blank">emerged out of the problems his wife faced</a> in sourcing and procuring affordable vaccines. In fact, the seed capital for Glovax emerged from the couple liquidating certain family assets.
<a style="color: #000080;" href="https://sg.linkedin.com/pub/steve-okun/0/474/719" target="_blank">Steven R Okun</a>, director of public affairs at KKR Asia Pacific said: “Leveraging KKR and KKR Capstone’s financial and operational skills gives Glovax the opportunity to increase its financial return and scale its social impact. This is what KKR’s Technical Assistance program is all about – finding ways to help social enterprises get the capital that is available to them to increase their financial and social return.”
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Launched in 2003 to fill a market gap, Glovax imports low-cost vaccines directly from manufacturers. In addition to providing logistics services to a wide-range of customers, it distributes vaccines through branded centre, to hospitals, clinics and doctors. Glovax claims that from 2003 &#8211; 2013, it has provided more than four million doses of vaccinations to its low-income customers.
It also manages a Low-Income Relief Unit to offer free vaccinations to the Philippines’ poorest demographic, in partnership with socio-civic organisations- with Glovax leveraging on this to respond to local community needs, having provided more than 130,000 doses of free vaccinations through this channel.
“The lessons learned from KKR and IIX gave me the confidence to be more aggressive in raising funds. KKR and IIX showed me that raising equity now would be expensive and dilutive. Instead, we explored cheaper forms of capital. As a result, Glovax secured bank credit and is better positioned to thoughtfully grow and help more Filipino patients receive life-saving vaccines,&#8221; said Alingog.
He added, &#8220;Without this project, we may still be struggling to raise equity. Now, we are investing and growing.”
<a style="color: #000080;" href="https://sg.linkedin.com/pub/robert-kraybill/0/20a/965" target="_blank">Robert Kraybill</a>, managing director of IIX, said “Our Social Impact Assessment shows that by helping people avoid disease, Glovax protects its customers and their families from suffering, while enabling a chance to continue their education, better hold steady employment, and elevate out of poverty. Glovax is exactly the type of social enterprise which IIX was created to assist.”
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IIX-Shujog, KKR help PH vaccine firm Glovax Biotech raise $1m credit

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IIX-Shujog, KKR help PH vaccine firm Glovax Biotech raise $1m credit

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