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Agri-Vie Fund II touches first close

Africa Global Funds
Feb. 1, 2017, midnight
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EXEO Capital, a pan-African private equity investment firm, has raised over $100m for the first close of its Agri-Vie Fund II, focused on the food and agribusiness sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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EXEO Capital, a pan-African private equity investment firm, has raised over $100m for the first close of its Agri-Vie Fund II, focused on the food and agribusiness sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Herman Marais, Managing Partner at EXEO Capital, said: “The first close of Fund II is a 33% over-subscription on the initial target, supported by a core of Fund I investors as well as new investors. The Fund will remain open for additional investors for another 12 months with a target of $150m and a hard cap of $200m.”

According to Marais, this first close is building on the momentum of Agri-Vie Fund I, which is now in its realisation stage. 

“Since inception in 2008, Agri-Vie has developed a proven track record in identifying strong performing food and agribusiness portfolio companies in Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. 

Fund I is invested in 12 portfolio companies across East and Southern Africa, including South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia, and has been “successfully unlocking value for investors while making a real and positive impact in the communities and regions it invests in”. 

One of the investors - Norfund - the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries - has been invested with Agri-Vie Fund I since 2010 and has worked closely with the management on establishing fund II.  

Kjell Roland, Norfund CEO, said: “Agri-Vie is an important partner for Norfund. There is a considerable investment deficit in the food and agribusiness sector, and we are pleased to see that our investments in this sector also can help catalysing other private investors.”

Agri-Vie invests across the broad food and agricultural sector, capitalising on the thriving African markets for processed food as well as export opportunities. 

Its portfolio companies include dairy, proteins (beef, poultry, aquaculture products and plant protein), condiments, fresh convenience foods, non-alcoholic beverages as well as food ingredients. 

The Fund also invests in businesses specialising in agri-inputs such as seeds, plant nutrients, crop protection, and food logistics.

Patrick Mamathuba, Head of Alternative Investments at Stanlib Asset Management, a partner in EXEO Capital, commented: “The Agri-Vie Funds give investors an opportunity to participate in a diversified range of growth investment opportunities in the food and agricultural sector of the sub-continent.

“These opportunities are supported and driven by distinct structural factors and trends, which include rapid urbanisation leading to increasing demand for processed food products, large-scale import replacement opportunities in several of the countries where the Fund operates, as well as the availability of new technologies to enable precision farming and efficient agro-processing at lower risk,” he said.

EXEO Capital was formed in 2015 by the founders of Agri-Vie Investment Fund and pan-African asset manager STANLIB.

The firm operates from offices in Cape Town, Nairobi and Mauritius and has representation in other major centres such as Johannesburg, Dar Es Salaam, Addis Ababa, Lusaka, Kampala, and Accra.  

“This strong local presence enables the investment team to understand local conditions and ensures that the best companies are selected for investment,” concluded Marais.

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