Did the IFC just get into the collection agency business? We’re oversimplifying, but… The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Omni Bridgeway, which bills itself as a specialist in resolving non-performing loans, have “jointly made available USD 100 mn to establish a new investment vehicle” that will take on non-performing loans from financial institutions across MENA. The for-profit company will be managed by Omni Bridgeway out of Dubai, according to a statement (pdf) released yesterday.

What is this, exactly? Omni Bridgeway makes money in distressed situations as a provider of litigation finance as a player in the “high value claims monetisation industry.” Now, under the IFC’s distressed assets program, it will look to acquire portfolios of NPLs from financial institutions in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Greece and then make a buck by turning them around. The result is that the banks will be able to “unlock their capital and encouraging new lending” by offloading bad debt. The aim is to help banks de-risk their balance sheets as well as to “rehabilitate rehabilitate and re-integrate defaulted debtors into the formal credit markets and to create a secondary market in NPLs.”