Mexican housing developer bags $75 million credit line from development bank

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican housing developer Inmobiliaria Ruba has snagged 1.5 billion Mexican pesos ($75.3 million) in credit from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to fund affordable and middle-class housing, the company said Thursday.

The funding, from the IDB's private investment arm, consists of 500 million pesos for Ruba to pay suppliers, and a seven-year, 1 billion peso revolving credit line, Ruba said in a filing to Mexico's main stock exchange.

The revolving credit line will be split into 500 million pesos in secured credit and 500 million pesos in unsecured credit, Ruba said. The agreement was reached on Aug. 2, the company said.

Ruba, one of Mexico's largest developers, has built more than 225,000 homes in its 40-plus years in operation, according to the company.

A recent study by a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology argued that Mexico must build 800,000 housing units a year in the coming two decades to keep up with demand.

($1 = 19.9234 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by David Holmes)