Eos Capital, a Namibian private equity fund manager, has launched its third fund - the Euphrates Agriculture Fund, which aims to facilitate the industrialization of the agriculture sector, deliver social impact and provide medium term returns to investors.

The fund’s target is to raise N$500m by March 2021.

Eos Capital’s strategy and decision for launching the Euphrates Agriculture fund is to address the challenges faced by the agriculture sector in Namibia, and to focus on boosting its productivity and sustainability by means of an unlisted manager solution.

Nicole Maske, Managing Partner of Eos Capital, said: “Eos Capital’s mission is to contribute to the growth of the Namibian economy and the Agri fund will take us a step further on this mission. It will be attractive to investors seeking diversification and investing into real assets that provide a hedge against inflation.”

Agriculture is a diverse asset with a broad range of risk/return profiles and characteristics, offering options and diversification.

Euphrates will serve as a catalyst to industrialization by pursuing quality assets at attractive prices, seeking to maximize returns over the long term.

The fund will make equity and quasi-equity investments into unlisted vehicles and target sectors will include agro-processing, distribution and logistics, commercial agriculture, retail, biomass, and manufacturing of chemicals, fertilizers, seeds, animal products and equipment.

The fund will invest in agriculture projects with emphasis on economic growth, social upliftment, and job creation.

Frederico Van Wyk, Senior Associate at Eos Capital, believes the sector’s significance is largely because of a potential for growth; through investing into technology and ingenious application of capital.

He said: “this vision can be achieved in Namibia through creating an ecosystem for development between private and public sector”.

The fund will both catalyze local investment and enable inward investment from Development Finance Institutions, regional and international investors due to its positioning, track record and high governance standards.

Mesag Mulunga, who attended on behalf of Percy Misika, Executive Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, supports and congratulates Eos Capital on the launch of the fund.

“The launch of this Euphrates Agri Fund comes at an opportune time, when public and private sector need to integrate and coordinate efforts in the promotion of investment in the agriculture sector”.

In addition, Eos Capital is currently fundraising for the Namibia Infrastructure Development and Investment Fund (NIDIF) – which has N$535m in commitments so far, and has a target fund size of N$1bn.

Target sectors include energy, water and sanitation, transport and logistics, ICT, healthcare, and education.

NIDIF is an infrastructure platform with a Namibian-only mandate that will develop, acquire, invest in, build, operate and hold infrastructure assets, forming a portfolio that provides robust, low volatility and income yield to its shareholders over the long term.

Equity and quasi-equity investments into unlisted Namibian companies will have a range of investment size from N$100m-N$350m, over a term of 10 years.

The target IRR will be 12%.

Eos Capital’s objective is to contribute to the growth of the Namibian economy.

The company’s first fund, Allegrow Fund is a growth and operational development fund with a Namibia-only mandate that provides equity, debt and mezzanine finance to fast growing Namibian businesses.