Bamboo Finance, a private equity firm specializing in investing in business models that benefit low-income communities in developing economies, and Louis Dreyfus Holding, which owns a controlling stake in leading global agribusiness Louis Dreyfus Commodities, have partnered to launch a new impact fund.
The two firms will jointly manage NISABA, a US$50m impact investment fund with a focus on small- and medium-sized agribusiness enterprises (SMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
NISABA will target a balanced portfolio of countries, activities and commodities, and will invest in financing gaps across the agribusiness value chain in growth markets.
The focus will be on SMEs that combine social, environmental and financial returns by:
– improving efficiency through access to data, finance and risk mitigation, training and technology innovation;
– strengthening market access by linking producers to end-consumers; and
– building local capacity through post-harvest handling and storage, value-addition or processing solutions, among others.
As project sponsor, Louis Dreyfus Holding will invest US$10m to seed NISABA.
Led by CEO Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, Bamboo Finance manages $280M representing three global funds and a portfolio of investments operating in 30 emerging market countries. The firm has offices in Luxembourg, Geneva, Bogota, Nairobi and Singapore.
FinSMEs
28/10/2015