Vistra and Citi support Food Securities Fund

Luxembourg, 2 September 2021 – The Food Securities Fund provides working capital loans to sustainable agriculture companies in emerging and developing markets, with an initial focus on Sub Saharan Africa. The Fund addresses the gap in season-long loans for agriculture production in emerging markets, contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting climate smart agriculture and responsible, deforestation-free supply chains. It counts on a guarantee from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), supported by USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, and support from the Good Energies Foundation, Convergence, Conservation International, WWF USA, and the Global Environment Facility, among other funders and backers.

The Food Securities Fund has been developed by Clarmondial with input from leading institutional investors, agribusinesses, and conservation organizations. It combines an innovative private debt investment strategy with a regulated fund structure in Luxembourg that offers quarterly liquidity and aims to deliver change at scale. The Fund is classified under article 9 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Rule (SFDR). The Fund started operations and concluded its first investment in March 2021.

Citi acts as the Fund’s Central Administration Agent and Depository. This work builds on Citi’s longstanding leadership and innovation in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) activities. Since 2005, through a specialist team dedicated to social and inclusive finance, Citi has developed solutions that enable its clients and partners to expand access to financial services and advance economic progress in underserved market segments across the globe. Adding to this momentum, earlier this year Citi announced a USD$1 trillion commitment to sustainable finance by 2030.

Jonas Bossau, Director, Citi, mentioned that “as a global bank with a mission to enable economic growth and progress, we are committed to driving inclusive, social and sustainable finance solutions. The Food Securities Fund is a fabulous opportunity to harness the power of prominent investors and targeted investments to build on our track record of catalyzing social and inclusive finance and to help drive food security in developing markets around the world”.

Vistra Fund Management’s AIFM ManCo services and proven track record of helping funds across the world was key to enabling the regulated fund structure setup in Luxembourg. Vistra Group, a leading provider of expert advisory and specialized fund administration services to Alternative Funds, Corporate, Capital Markets and Private Wealth clients, was delighted to seal the partnership with Clarmondial and Citi. Vistra works with a number of the leading Private Equity and not-for-profit investment funds around the world. Vistra’s capabilities enable investment organizations around the world to grow, manage, structure and transact their investment opportunities with a range of industry leading services.

Jan Vanhoutte, Managing Director & Conducting Officer of Vistra Fund Management, added that “combining our proven track record in managing alternative investment funds and our expertise in interpretation and implementation of SFDR was key in helping Food Securities Fund deal with their regulatory requirements. We’re delighted that Vistra has been able to provide these essential services so that Clarmondial can focus their efforts on originating and executing the best investments to foster sustainable agriculture supply chains and catalyse environmental and social impact”.

Fred Werneck, co-founder of Clarmondial, commented that “agriculture supply chains urgently need working capital to support the uptake of sustainable practices, improve smallholder farmer livelihoods, and address climate change and biodiversity loss. With Citi and Vistra on board, the Food Securities Fund is well placed to channel institutional capital to unlock change at the required scale”.

About Citi

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

About Vistra

Seizing opportunity together

At Vistra, we believe your business and your people can make a difference in the world. That’s why our work is focused on helping our clients act with confidence and speed to seize opportunity wherever it arises. As a global corporate service provider and fund administrator with nearly 5,000 professionals in over 45 jurisdictions, we empower legal entities globally to work smarter, grow faster, act responsibly, protect capital and scale across borders — by doing what we do best: reducing risk and enhancing efficiency. Discover how we can help you and your business seize opportunity today by exploring our services at www.vistra.com  

About Clarmondial 

Established in 2010 in Switzerland by Tanja Havemann, Clarmondial is an employee-owned advisory firm that focuses on sustainable investments, mainly in the agricultural sector in emerging markets. Its team combines finance and environmental sciences backgrounds to deliver actionable, profitable and creative solutions for social and environmental businesses and their funders.

For more information, please visit www.clarmondial.com 

Disclaimer: this announcement does not constitute an offer or solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction to purchase or sell any shares. No information in this announcement should be construed as providing financial, investment, tax or other professional advice.