British International Investment

Sanima Bank Ltd.

South AsiaFinancial services

Sanima Bank is an “A” Class Commercial Bank registered in Kathmandu, Nepal and promoted by a diverse and prominent group of Non-Resident Nepalese (NRNs) businessmen, namely Arun Kumar Ojha, Tek Raj Niraula and Jiba Lamichhane, among others. The bank commenced operations in 2004 as a National Level Development Bank with the vision to mobilize resources for national development. The banks director base includes professionals with deep and diverse experience, particularly from banking and hydropower sectors. Tuk Prasad Poudel, the Chairperson of the bank has 3 decades of experience in hydropower and has worked in Nepal, Russia, Norway, Liberia and Afghanistan. Sanima Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through its 105 branches and 28 extension counters across 7 provinces in Nepal. Sanima’s shareholding is split between Promoters (51%) and the General Public (49%). The bank is listed on the Nepal Stock Exchange (XNEP:SANIMA), with a current marketcapitalisation of $251.8m as at 31/1/2024.

We have now exited this investment. This is what we achieved.

Achieved impact

This information will appear shortly

Expected impact

The facility will support the imports of strategic goods into Nepal, particularly hydropower equipment and food & agri goods. Hydropower plays a crucial role in Nepal's electricity supply, contributing to over 90% of the total generation capacity. Moreover, this facility will provide USD liquidity and support credit growth in the market.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7.1, 7.2)
  • Increased access to commodities and access to finance and markets for businesses and consumer goods and services (SDG 1.4, 2.1, 9.3)

How?

How?
  • Economic enabler: Through the import of hydropower (and potentially solar) equipment for building new run-of-the-river dam projects, this transaction will boost Nepalese clean energy capacity. In turn this will enable access to more affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to Nepalese firms and households. It will also reduce GHG emissions
  • Direct: By enabling Sanima to extend trade finance to large firms in Nepal, this transaction will facilitate much-needed goods import and export activity. In turn, this will create economic opportunities for firms and access to welfare enhancing goods for customers.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Planet, Firm owners, Customers

Nepal (100%), Planet

BII expects at least 30% of the trades by value of the facility to relate to hydro and solar power equipment

Firm owners, Customers

Nepal, trade partner countries

Excluding oil and gas, the top five sectors supported by Sanima’s diverse trade book include: vehicles and parts, metals, food, machinery and equipment, and plastics. Beyond hydropower, we expect a similar set of goods flows

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration
  • The average ticket size of a trade is $3.1m. The tenor of these trades is expected to be one year.
  • We expect c.18 trades to a total value of $18m as part of the BII facility beyond the climate trades
  • Depth for the planet,firm owners, and customers: Hydropower capacity in Nepal is under-utilised, while energy quality and access remain a Government of Nepal priority for improvement. As such, we expect strong depth of impact.
  • Depth for firm owners and customers - With low domestic manufacturing capacity and high levels of food insecurity in Nepal we expect strong depth of impact.
  • Duration: The average useable lifetime of new run-of-the-river dams is up to 80 years. An increase in the clean energy mix will have a long-term lasting impact. We will attempt to crowd-in commercial investment into any possible renewal with Sanima to securing lasting impact without DFI support.. At the firm level, imports may lead to medium term increases in firm revenues and assets, some of which may be shared with employees.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality

Financial: We are confident about the scarcity of third-party, USD denominated commercial funding to support the planned book growth.

Risk

Drop-Off Risk

Relates to the risk that Sanima will not be able to fund similar trades in the future without DFI funding sources. Hence, if we renew, we will look to mobilise commercial capital into the transaction

Alignment Risk

There is low risk that Sanima will not use the BII line to finance the goods flows BII would like to prioritise. However, a legal climate target, diligence have reinforced PFI’s strategic intent and operational capacity to deliver

Impact score

Impact score (at point of investment)

The Impact Score is a tool to help us manage our performance against our strategic impact objectives. It is designed to incentivise investments that support our productive, sustainable, and inclusive objectives. The Impact Score shown is based on the 2022-2026 Impact Score methodology. You can find out more here.

The Impact Score is published for investments made from 2022 onwards. The Impact Scores are calculated at the point of investment. We publish the Impact Scores of new investments annually, once the information has been externally assured by an independent third party.

6

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.

  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

This investment is medium-low. We agreed on an ESAP item for the development of a screening procedure to ensure for screening of transactions against BII's list of excluded activities and included specific actions to strengthen the Bank's gender based violence and harassment procedures.

Environmental and social risk

Medium-Low

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    First published

    When the investment was first published on the website database.

    :
    March 2025
    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2026
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D6462
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Exited
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    South Asia
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    Nepal
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Financial services
    Sub sector

    The sub-sector that the investment is made into; this provides a more granular level of detail than the ‘sector’ information

    :
    Banks

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    Type of investment portfolio that each investment is made under. Since 2014, we have run two investment portfolios: Catalyst and Growth. In addition, our Kinetic Portfolio enables us to manage concessional investment strategies.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment policy :
    Growth
    Investment type :
    Debt
    Start date :
    December 2024
    End date :
    January 2026
    Amount :
    $15m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    Nepal
  • Gender and climate finance facts

    Climate finance

    Indicates whether the investment is climate finance qualified or partially climate finance qualified and the type of climate finance (adaptation, mitigation or both). We define climate finance using the multilateral development bank (MDB) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Common Principles climate finance methodology. See Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking and Common Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Finance Tracking. We provide the climate finance qualification and type for commitments from 2020 onwards, which is when we launched our Climate Change Strategy.

    :
    Partially qualified
    Climate finance type

    Mitigation: Indicates investments which, by avoiding or reducing GHG emissions or increasing GHG sequestration, contributes substantially to the stabilisation of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere – at a level which prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system consistent with the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement

    Adaptation: Indicates investments aimed at preventing or reducing the risks or vulnerabilities posed by climate change and increasing climate resilience. This includes both adapted activities and enabling activities to manage and reduce physical climate risks

    Dual: Indicates investments directed towards activities contributing to both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation and meeting the respective criteria for each category

    The climate finance type of the investment is determined at time of commitment.

    :
    • Mitigation

Subscribe to receive our latest news and updates

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

Analytics Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Enabling these cookies helps us to improve our website.