The problem
Lebanon’s post-2019 crisis cut manufacturers off from dollars and bank credit: no import finance for raw materials, no export finance for shipments, and a receivables deficit — a short-term shortfall the fund estimates at roughly $2bn — that threatened factory closures and mass layoffs.
How it works
Cedar Oxygen, established in May 2020 as an independent Luxembourg-domiciled platform with teams in Beirut and Paris, onboards manufacturers under the patronage of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, underwrites them on a proprietary digital platform, and extends short-term hard-currency facilities — import finance, export finance and receivables finance — working alongside select Lebanese banks. Its first facility, arranged in December 2020, financed raw-material imports for Lebanese Roasting Group (Castania), a nuts and snacks manufacturer.
Pain points
Factories unable to buy inputs, shipments stuck without export finance, finished goods unsold for lack of receivables funding, and workforces at risk in an economy with 98% currency devaluation.
Business model
Interest and fees on short-term structured trade-finance transactions diversified across exporters and non-exporters, plus origination mandates in blended facilities such as the Lebanon Green Investment Facility, where Cedar Oxygen sources Lebanese deals for development and private co-investors.
Challenges
Converting DFI and endowment interest into the targeted $750M minimum fund size given Lebanon’s sovereign risk, maintaining underwriting discipline through volatility, and growing from pilot facilities to a portfolio covering a significant share of Lebanon’s import trade volume.
Funding
- Raised: approximately $1M founder seed, then $175M initial funding from Banque du Liban (Pioneers Post, Jan 2021); targeting a $750M minimum fund size with total capacity above $2bn per year.
Latest — Feb 2024
On 26 February 2024 UNDP, Lebanon’s Ministry of Environment and Cedar Oxygen launched the Lebanon Green Investment Facility (LGIF) — a $50M blended-finance facility, the first of its kind in the Arab States region — with Cedar Oxygen originating Lebanese deals in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, water conservation and climate-smart infrastructure under CEO Ibrahim Salibi and CIO Mark Smyth (BusinessNews Lebanon).