News & media Cordiant Capital Signs USD130 Million Credit Facility With Agrícola Chapi
Sao Paulo: Cordiant Capital, the specialist global infrastructure and real assets manager, is pleased to announce the granting of a USD 130 million financing facility to Agrícola Chapi (Chapi), a family-owned agricultural exports company based in Peru.
With farms across the country in the Ica, Casma, and the Olmos regions, Chapi was founded 25 years ago to pursue the dream of taking the best Peruvian produce to the world’s largest markets and in the process has created more than 35,000 local jobs.
The financing facility, a mix of structural and subordinated debt, will be disbursed in stages until March 2024 and will support the development of the company’s medium term growth plan to reach a growing capacity of 1,200 hectares of avocado (double the current production volume) and 900 hectares of table grapes (five times the current production volume) with grapes genetics from IFC and Sun World.
Cordiant’s investment in Chapi is an excellent example of the firm’s global “connect the dots” approach within the agriculture value chain between global grocers on the one hand and exceptional farming enterprises on the other. Cordiant sees huge opportunities within Peruvian agriculture, where the country is currently the second largest exporter of avocadoes globally and the world’s largest exporter of table grapes and where companies like Chapi already have commercial agreements in place with the likes of Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Tesco among others.
In addition to being the right investment fit for Cordiant, Chapi’s sustainability strategy is closely aligned with the firm’s rigorous focus on ESG and impact. The company’s optimisation of natural water cycles to develop ecosystems and address climate change has seen them become the world’s first avocado and grape producer to be certified with the world’s main standard for sustainable water management, the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS). Furthermore, in 2003, Chapi founded the NGO Horizonte, an important network of 23 schools and 6,300 students from the Ica and Casma regions, which promotes and highlights the value of Peru’s coastal biodiversity by establishing a 16-year-old native species conservation forest, a nursery and 10 million seeds bank in partnership with Huarango Nature, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, and Sainsbury’s UK.
Having first engaged with Chapi in 2017, Cordiant has been extremely impressed by the operational rigour of the management team led by Augusto Baertl Espinoza, their authentic engagement on environmental and social issues and the community and look forward to working closely with them in the future as Chapi continues to grow sustainably.
Cédric Garnier-Landurie, Managing Director, Head of Agriculture Value Chain at Cordiant Capital commented: “Our investment into Agrícola Chapi is a further example of Cordiant marrying a focus on food security with an emphasis on more sustainable practices as we feed an ever growing population with more nutritious fresh food. Through this approach we believe we can continue to deliver both attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors and positive impacts to society by providing a more secure path from farm to table, while doing our part in naturally capturing carbon into healthy soils”
Lori Trotter, Managing Director, ESG & Impact at Cordiant: “As the world continues to face a myriad of climate-related challenges, Cordiant is proud to work with responsible actors like Agrícola Chapi and is pleased to support their on-going efforts that benefit all stakeholders locally and internationally.”
Augusto Baertl Espinoza, Agrícola Chapi CEO added: “For Agrícola Chapi, it is extremely important to have secured this financing. It fills us with satisfaction to know that our stakeholders trust the strategic plan we have outlined as a company and recognise the potential of Peruvian agribusiness. Our plan aims to expand our agricultural frontier with sustainable management that contributes to conserving the region’s flora, fauna, and water resources. We also aim to improve the quality of education and nutrition of the children around us.”
Notes to Editors
Cordiant’s legal counsel on this deal were DHC Abogados led by Christian Castellares Alfaro and Denton’s led by Marie-Josée Couture.
Chapi was advised on this deal by Isabel Elias with legal counsel by Estudio Garrigues.
Media:
Brunswick Group
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CordiantCapital@Brunswickgroup.com
About Cordiant Capital
Cordiant is a specialist global infrastructure and real assets manager with a sector-led approach to providing growth capital solutions to promising mid-sized companies in Europe, North America and selected global markets. Since the firm’s relaunch in 2016, Cordiant–a partner-owned and -run firm–has developed a track record of exceeding mandated investment targets for our clients.
Cordiant focuses on the next generation of infrastructure and real assets: sectors (digital infrastructure, energy transition infrastructure and agriculture value chain) characterised by growth tailwinds; technological dynamism in how customers deploy the infrastructure Cordiant is financing; and a requirement for sustainability.
With a mix of managed funds offering both value-add and core strategies in equity and debt, our sector investment teams (combining seasoned industry executives with traditional private capital investors) work with investee companies to develop innovative, tailored financing solutions backed by a comprehensive understanding of the sector and demonstrated operating capabilities.
Press Release Disclaimer:
Some of the statements in this press release may be forward-looking statements or statements of future expectations based on currently available information Factors such as the development of general economic conditions, future market conditions, unusual catastrophic loss events, changes in the capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events or results to be materially different from those anticipated by such statements. Cordiant Capital and its affiliates do not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or updated status of such statements. Therefore, in no case whatsoever will Cordiant Capital and its affiliate companies be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information and/or statements in this press release or for any related damages. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect Cordiant’s current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Although when making a forward-looking statement, Cordiant, as the case may be, believe that the assumptions inherent in this statement are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.
