Published: January 23, 2012
Agriculture commodities distributor secures US$74mn in expansion funds.
Standard Chartered’s private equity division has invested US$74mn in ETG, a Tanzanian agriculture commodities distributor.
The bank has taken a minority stake in the business, which has been valued at more than US$500mn following the deal.
ETG, which processes and distributes soft commodities in Sub-Saharan Africa, India and China, will use the funds to expand into new regions.
Ronald Tamale, a director of Standard Chartered’s Africa private equity team, said Africa’s agriculture sector has considerable growth potential due to the continent holding more than 60% of the world’s farmable land.
Since 2008, Standard Chartered’s private equity division has invested some US$400mn in African companies from its offices in Johannesburg and Lagos.