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> Posted by Danielle Donza

For publically traded retail banks, valuations are at historic lows. In the microfinance industry, 2011 also saw the continued compression of valuation multiples from 2009 highs, according to the recently released Global Microfinance Equity Valuation Survey, Volume Growth and Valuation Contraction. CGAP and J.P. Morgan, with support from the Council of Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF), publish this report annually to address the scarcity of valuation data available in the public domain.

Including valuation data for both MFI private equity (PE) transactions as well as Lower Income Finance Institutions (LIFIs), which are publically listed companies providing financial services to lower-income clients, but not necessarily having a stated social mission, this report aims to provide benchmarks for the valuation of both private and publicly listed microfinance equity, promote market transparency and identify industry trends.

This year the survey finds a “wider trend where LIFI and microfinance valuations in the public and private markets are beginning to converge toward those of traditional financial institutions in emerging markets, and are probably closer to their true value.” Read the rest of this entry »