June 21, 2019

by Lynda Kiernan

EXEO Capital has announced the final close of its Agri-Vie Fund II, outpacing its first fund by 50 percent, at $146 million.

EXEO Capital was launched in March 2016 through a 50/50 joint venture between the founders of the South African private equity fund, Agri-Vie, and pan-African asset manager, STANLIB, as an entity through which to manage private equity vehicles formed to invest in strategically selected sectors.

The partnership planned to take an equity position of between 25 and 75 percent in opportunities that are closely tied to growth trends within sub-Saharan Africa, broadening investment opportunities and geographies for both parties, while the launch of EXEO Capital also added private equity to STANLIB’s alternatives offerings platform, which already included Infrastructure, High Yield Credit, and Director Property Investment.

The launch of Agri-Vie Fund II followed upon the heels of the success of the $100 million Agri-Vie Fund I, which focused on mid-market growth investments in the sub-Saharan market, and deployed across 12 companies across South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

The establishment of Fund II was supported by a field of core Fund I investors along with new investors, and was backed by Norfund, the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries, which had been investing with Agri-Vie Fund I since 2010. In February 2017 Fund II announced its first close of $100 million.

“The first close of Fund II is a 33 percent over-subscription on the initial target, supported by a core of Fund I investors as well as new investors,” said Herman Marais, managing partner at EXEO Capital at the time.

To-date, Fund II has made five equity investments spanning $5 million to $15 million in high-growth potential companies across sub-Saharan Africa. Two recent deals include a US$6.4 million investment in Capital Fisheries, a leading food distributor in Zambia specializing in cold chain distribution of animal proteins in May 2018; and an investment in South Africa aquaculture company TerraSan in February 2018.

Through its funding, Agri-Vie II has also been instrumental in establishing one of the largest flower export companies in East Africa. 

“Our task as long-term investors is to find established businesses with resilient and vertically integrated business models that can scale up relatively fast,” said Herman Marais, managing partner at EXEO Capital. ”Our approach to finding these companies is on-the-ground networking. We look for founders and management who are willing to partner with us and who are at risk with us, who maintain the highest ethical standards, are strong on sustainability principles, and have a strong social license. These are the companies that are more successful over the longer term.”

Through Fund II EXEO Capital is also partnered with South African, black-owned Kuhle Capital, which is led by Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, who commented, “We are proud of our association with this Fund and look forward to making a contribution to the much needed development and transformation of the food & agri sector in South Africa.”