AATIF concludes USD 30m facility agreement with Export Trading Group to support agricultural supply chain development in Africa

Export Trading Group (“ETG”), a Pan-African integrated trading and processing company specialized in end-to-end agricultural supply chain management headquartered in Mauritius, and Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund (“AATIF”) have signed a US$ 30 million facility agreement to support the development of the smallholder agriculture sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ETG has offices across 40 countries in the world with significant presence across 26 African countries, buying crops from thousands of smallholder farmers without intermediaries and connecting them to global commodity markets, thereby contributing to sustainable employment and income security for local farmers as well as global food security.  In addition, ETG provides smallholder farmers with training, agricultural expertise, farming equipment and farming inputs.

The proceeds of AATIF’s facility will be used by ETG as long-term working capital for the export of crops and import of fertilizers as well as the financing of capital expenditures related to processing plants and warehouses.

According to Mahesh R. Patel, Executive Chairman of ETG:

"We welcome the cooperation between AATIF and ETG to further strengthen ETG’s agricultural supply chain work in Africa.  We see this as the beginning of a strategic relationship. This relationship will allow us to continue our work of connecting African smallholder farmers to the world food supply chain despite facing ongoing challenges of infrastructure, skills shortages, and while being sensitive towards the social, cultural and political norms of each country."

Thomas Duve, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AATIF, said:

"The collaboration with ETG is a good example of AATIF’s strategy to support smallholder farmers through experienced intermediaries and partners like ETG. We are proud of this investment which further increases AATIF’s agricultural footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to local employment and value creation as well as the global development agenda of reducing hunger and improving food security.”

According to Astrid Manroth, Head of Sustainable Investments Europe at Deutsche Bank:

"We are very pleased about the successful collaboration with ETG which builds on Deutsche Bank’s extensive Africa network. ETG successfully connects African smallholder farmers to global markets in a sustainable manner, proving once again that investing in AATIF achieves both financial and social objectives.”   

About ETG
Founded in 1967, Export Trading Group (ETG) owns and manages the most vertically integrated agriculture supply chain on the African subcontinent with operations spanning in procurement, processing, warehousing, distribution and merchandising. In addition to ETG’s presence in across 26 African countries, it is actively present in North America, India, China and South East Asia.

About AATIF
The Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund (AATIF) is a public-private partnership fund to realize the potential of Africa's agricultural production, manufacturing, service provision and trade for the benefit of the poor. The Fund aims to provide additional employment and income to farmers, entrepreneurs and labourers alike, including a dedicated effort to support smallholder farming arrangements.

About Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank provides commercial and investment banking, retail banking, transaction banking and asset and wealth management products and services to corporations, governments, institutional investors, small and medium-sized businesses, and private individuals. Deutsche Bank is Germany’s leading bank, with a strong position in Europe and a significant presence globally. Deutsche Bank Asset Management serves as Investment Manager to AATIF.

About KfW:
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), KfW established the Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund (AATIF) together with Deutsche Bank.

KfW is one of the world´s leading and most experienced promotional banks. Established in 1948 as a public law institution, KfW is owned 80 per cent by the Federal Republic of Germany and 20 per cent by the federal states (“Länder”).  KfW Development Bank is Germany’s leading development bank and an integral part of KfW. It carries out Germany´s Financial Cooperation (FC) with developing countries on behalf of the Federal Government. The 600 personnel at headquarters and about 200 specialists in its 66 local offices cooperate with partners all over the world. Its goal is to combat poverty, secure the peace, protect the environment and the climate and make globalisation fair. KfW is a competent and strategic advisor on current development issues.