NAIROBI, Kenya, April 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Specialist
agriculture investor AgDevCo has made an equity investment,
for a significant minority position, into East African agri-
business platform Agris - the agriculture division of Maris
Ltd.
The investment will support the growth of Agris' production and
distribution of high- quality herbs, vegetables, and avocados
from its farms in Kenya, serving
domestic and international markets.
"The Agris team has already
built three impressive agriculture businesses in Kenya. We're
excited about deepening our partnership in East Africa, with the aim to promote food
security, create jobs in rural areas and help drive the development
of world-class agro- industries," said Chris Isaac, AgDevCo's CIO.
Agris' three operating companies - Evergreen Fresh, Evergreen
Herbs and Evergreen Avocados - have grown rapidly since Agris was
founded in 2020. Evergreen Herbs was started by rehabilitating two
farms near Nairobi and is now one
of the largest producers of fresh cut herbs in East Africa, with year-round production and
more than 2,000 employees.
Evergreen Fresh distributes fruit and vegetables from Agris'
farms and outgrower network to all major outlets in
Kenya. It promotes transparent
purchasing relationships with farmers and offers consumers quality
and consistency via dedicated cold-chain distribution.
Evergreen Avocados is a joint venture with Granot, a
world-leading avocado producer and distributor, to grow more than
400ha of avocados for export at Ndabibi farm in Naivasha. In
March 2023 AgDevCo made an
USD 8m investment in Evergreen
Avocados, via a mezzanine loan flexibly structured to support new
avocado orchards, which take up to four years to mature. Ndabibi
will also be home to a technical research and development facility
to support the development of the wider avocado industry in
Kenya.
"This investment will help us deploy innovative agri-business
practices, to consistently and sustainably produce high-quality
fruit and vegetables for the local market and consumers overseas,
and continue growing with our partners," said Ran Kadosh,
Agris' CEO. "It's the type of transformation we need to see
across East African agriculture - to accelerate the region's
integration into global food systems so that African
producers play a larger role in global food security."
Legal support was provided by Charles Russell Speechlys, YKJ
Legal and Anjarwalla & Khanna for AgDevCo, and Angeli Arora from Allectus Law for Agris.
Agris is a subsidiary of Maris Ltd, an early-stage
investment group with more than USD
100m under management across sub-Saharan Africa. Agris offers
investors unique access to an integrated portfolio of
agri-business operations positioned to meet rising global demand
for high-quality food fresh produce.
More information can be found at: www.agris.group
AgDevCo is a specialist investor in African agriculture,
growing sustainable and impactful agribusiness, with USD 280m under management. Their vision is a
thriving commercial agriculture sector, which benefits both people
and planet by investing in and supporting agribusinesses to grow,
create jobs, produce, and process food and link farmers to markets.
They support their partners to work towards climate sustainability,
and where possible, regenerative solutions. AgDevCo has made more
than 65 investments to date.
More information can be found at www.agdevco.com
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