Abhay Cotex Pvt Ltd. (ACPL), an oilseed processing company based in Maharashtra, India has made its first investment outside of India with a joint venture with Afrisian Group. The deal will give Abhay a minority stake in a development project in Tanzania that will allow the company to utilize its patented, extraction technology to create a new line of edible oils from cottonseeds, sunflower seeds and soybeans.
The facility will be based in Dar es Salaam and process up to 180,000 tons of seeds yearly to create high quality proteins and edible oils, according to Deal Street Asia. Its partner company, the Afrisian Group, is one of the largest exporters of pulses to India. The company began with cotton ginning in 1997 and expanded its trading activities to include rice milling, oilseed crushing, and export of various agricultural commodities throughout its operations in Southern Africa.
Abhay’s partnership with Afrisian Group will bring valuable technology into the Tanzanian agribusiness sector and address the growing need for edible oils and proteins that can be used in animal feed.
The nation’s expanding animal feed and agribusiness sector has seen increased investment in recent years to address this need for more proteins. In 2015, a Kenyan private equity firm invested US$6M in a Tanzanian animal feed and broiler processing facility. Earlier this year, the World Bank approved a US$70M loan to support the agribusiness investment in Tanzanian agriculture.
Globally, companies have begun to look for innovative technology to sustainably feed the growing demand for protein and animal feed. Similar to Abhay and Afrisian, Dow AgroSciences LLC and Sofiproteol are collaborating to develop protein-enhanced animal feed ingredients from new genetic varieties of winter rapeseed in Europe.
Abhay is using a patented single extraction process that extracts protein, reducing 90% of water and energy used in conventional tactics. Ashish Mantri, MD of Abhay Cotex noted, “its low energy, low water usage technology directly benefits the nutritional aspect of its products, while providing a substantial cost advantage for the customers.” The technology used allows products to retain more biologically active micronutrients providing an opportunity to create more efficient animal feed.
Investments over the past five years have allowed Abhay Cortex to grow into a profitable, and socially and environmentally beneficial company addressing food security concerns in India and now East Africa. In 2011, ACPL raised $5M in an investment from the SEAF (Small Enterprise Assistance Fund) India Agribusiness Fund. Later in 2014, they raised another $2M, and a separate similar amount from a U.S.-based investment firm, Middleland Capital, that focuses on early stage technologies. The company’s focus on alternative and innovative products to supply the livestock feed and edible oil sectors provides ample opportunity for growth as the agribusiness world seeks new ways to address the need for protein and animal feed.
—
Tiffany Agard