SEAF India Investment Advisors (SIIA) is raising $150 million from both domestic and international investors for its next agribusiness fund.

 

Sponsored by Washington DC-based Small Enterprise Assistance Fund (SEAF), expectations are that $100 million will be committed by international investors and the balance will be invested from Indian parties.

 

This newest fund will follow on the existing SEAF India Agribusiness Fund and the SEAF India Agribusiness International Fund according to managing director, Hemendra Mathur, reports Deal Street Asia. The existing funds were established five years ago with a total corpus of $42 million. Both funds invest along the agricultural supply chain in businesses including food ingredients, seeds, processing, restaurants, and warehousing.

 

SIIA has invested in eight Indian companies to date, with negotiations ongoing regarding one additional investment, and the fund has not exited any investments so far. “We plan on one exit, if not two, in the next six months,” Mathur said, adding that the firm plans to increase the amount committed per transaction to between $5 million and $10 million for the new fund – up from previous investments ranging between $2 million and $5 million for the previous funds.

 

The size of the Indian food and agribusiness market is estimated to be $375 million in value, of which food accounts for $300 million, and the remaining $75 million including seeds, fertilizers, farming equipment, and non-edible crops such as cotton and jute. And despite the difficulty associated with convincing family and privately owned Indian businesses to accept outside investment, Hemendra Mathur expects a minimum of $500 million of available investment opportunities in the space this year.