Agri-Vie Fund II

Equity : January 2017

Agri-Vie Fund II is a specialized food & agribusiness investment fund active in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Amount

€ 6,552,700.00

Type of investment

Equity

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Food security & rural development
Promotion of ESG best practices

Beneficiary locations

Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

SME Fund

Organisation

Agri-Vie Fund II

Website

http://agrivie.com/

Domicile

Mauritius

Agri-Vie Fund II is a successor fund to Agri-Vie I, a 2008 vintage, specialized food & agribusiness investment fund active in Sub-Sahara Africa. Agri-Vie Fund II will continue the same investment strategy as its predecessor fund, orienting itself to providing growth equity through influential minority positions in mid-size companies in selected subsectors in food and agribusiness. The targeted size is US$ 175 mn.

Focus

Agri-Vie focuses on geographies and sector segments that were selected based on top down research and the team’s experience with Agri-Vie I. Out of the 48 countries in the region, the fund manager favours countries with a high growth, stable political environment and underserved consumer markets. As a consequence, the fund manager aims to invest up to 25% in South Africa and expects that next to this, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia will be the most important invested countries.

Development impacts

Local economic growth
The Fund will provide equity finance to SMEs to finance expansion and productivity improvements.
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Despite growing interest in East & Southern Africa as an investment destination (PE), the current penetration of PE is still very low in the region, about one tenth of that in developed countries.
Food security & rural development
The Fund invests in the food & agribusiness sector of the region, a sector that informally and formally employs more than 60% of the labour force, while food represents 60% of house hold expenditure in the region. Hence employment generation, rural development, food security and consumer choice all benefit form the Fund's investments.
Promotion of ESG best practices
All investees are required to sign the AV's ESG and impact protocol which commits the company and its management to the sustainability and social vision and policies of the fund. This includes a commitment to the internationally recognized social & environmental performance standards.

Made possible through this investment

Thanks to the direct funding from BIO, the following second-line investments have been made possible.

Capital Fisheries

Zambia

Established in 1999, Capital Fisheries and its subsidiary, Capital Trucking Limited (Capital Trucking), together are the market-leading Zambian cold chain food distributor, specialising in the distribution of frozen animal proteins. Capital Fisheries is a widely recognised national consumer brand, serving across formal and informal markets as well as income classes.

TerraSan

South Africa

TerraSan is a South African fishing and aquaculture group that holds investments in aquaculture and pelagic fishing, as well as fish, fishmeal and fish oil processing through its subsidiaries Saldanha Protein, TerraSan Pelagic, Aqunion and Blue Ocean Mussels.

Marginpar (Kariki)

Kenya

The consolidation of cut flower production operations of the Marginpar Group was concluded in the first quarter of 2018 under a group holding company. The group now extends to beyond Kenya into Ethiopia and includes an international marketing/sales operation based in Holland.

Kenya is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cut flowers, with an estimated 35% market share in the European Union. Ethiopia’s flower exports have expanded rapidly over recent years, aided by climatological advantages and proactive government promotion.

FSDCo

Tanzania

FSDCo is the working name for a food services distribution group being formed through the consolidation of two existing companies in the fresh and temperature-controlled food sector in Tanzania. The consolidation involves Frostan Ltd, a Dar es Salaam-based poultry and ancillary foods business and Mtanga Foods Ltd, a red meat operation with activities in Southern Tanzania and Dar es Salaam.

Read impact and news about this project

Impact Story

Flowers of Hope

08-06-2020

BIO has invested USD 7 M in equity in Agri-Vie II, a specialized food & agribusiness investment fund active in Sub-Sahara Africa. They have invested in Marginpar Group. Mr Richard Fernandes is the CEO of Marginpar Group, formerly Kariki. This is his story.