ACT Fund (CIIF)

The Agricultural Commodity Transformation Fund (ACT)

Putting SMEs at the heart of transforming global agriculture

ACT is a US$100 million impact fund that gives private sector institutions the opportunity to invest in agribusinesses that can drive prosperity in developing countries.

It focusses on enabling viable small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to create greater economic opportunity in the communities around them, while strengthening the climate resilience of their value chains and growing the incomes of the smallholder farmers they work with. By enhancing the relationship between SMEs and smallholders, ACT will support local development that alleviates poverty.

Now is the time to ACT

SMEs are a crucial bridge between smallholders in some of the poorest regions of the world and global markets. They connect them to demand and process their crops into value added products, reducing the dependence many developing countries have on raw commodity exports. In short, with the right support, agribusiness SMEs can help to build more stable and prosperous economies by underpinning innovative and resilient commodity value chains.

ACT will target SMEs in the agricultural sector. Many of these businesses form what is known as the ‘missing middle’, because they struggle to access financing that would enable them to expand and increase the prosperity of the smallholders they work with.

Investing in them will spur productivity, grow farmer incomes and create jobs, particularly for young people and women in rural areas where there are limited opportunities. In Africa alone around 12 million young people enter the labour market each year, with more local employment they are more likely to build their lives locally and contribute to the local economy.

ACT is designed to unlock this local potential by providing affordable finance, reducing risk for investors and delivering the technical assistance expertise needed to create equitable low-carbon supply chains.

A new approach to SME financing

The CFC has more than three decades of experience financing commodity value chains, funded primarily by our 101 Member States. In 2012 we pivoted to impact investing and have brought together about one billion US$ of investment including counterparty contributions.

ACT has been formed to give private sector institutions the opportunity to invest in the huge untapped potential of agribusiness SMEs, linking smallholders to international markets as shown in the diagram below. The fund will benefit from our stability as an intergovernmental institution with connections across the UN and the global financial ecosystem.

ACT will invest in established SMEs with revenues of more than US$1 million, primarily in the form of working capital, trade finance and capex loans, as well as smaller amounts of quasi-equity. Our aim is to balance impact and return for investors, by leaning on our world class in-house impact investment and Technical Assistance teams, and by backing the fund financially.

US$20 million

CFC contribution in first loss capital

Access to US$10 million

Technical Assistance Facility

A deal flow of more than 500 applications

for finance each year

Michael van den Berg – ACT Investment Director

Michael has two decades of impact investing and financial management experience with a focus on mobilising, managing and deploying funds in food and agriculture across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn

Fatima-Zohra Yaagoub – ACT Impact Manager

Zohra is an expert in impact quantification, measurement and development finance. She has over a decade of experience working on global development issues and impact in agriculture and beyond.

Connect with Zohra on LinkedIn

Generating sustainable impact

We have a track record of successfully generating positive impact where it is needed most. Since focussing on impact investing we have provided loans with a total value of US$52 million to agribusinesses, improving the lives of 415,000 people in countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Our TA team currently manages TA facilities worth US$14 million for several leading agriculture focussed impact funds, providing expert support on a range of projects from piloting climate smart financing mechanisms to implementing full scale outgrower schemes.

All our work contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and ACT will enable us to do more, by driving profitability, enhancing incomes and strengthening economic and climate resilience.

Our key aims for ACT include:

Providing US$100 million in SME supply chain finance
Positively impacting one million people, more than 50% of them women
Generating US$290 million additional income for beneficiaries
Allocating 20% of the portfolio to agroforestry for carbon sequestration

ACT Fund Teaser

VIEW DETAILS

DISCLAIMER

Neither the Common Fund for Commodities nor any of its Member Countries, nor associated companies make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in the ACT Fund Placement Documents and nothing contained in the Placement Documents is, or should be relied upon as a promise or forecast as to the future. Any prospective investor should rely solely on its own due diligence, judgement and business analysis in evaluating subscription to Participations in ACT Fund.

The Placement Documents do not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy Participations in any jurisdiction neither by any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction.

Nothing in this document may be considered to constitute legal or tax advice and each prospective investor should consult with their own legal counsel and advisors as to all matters concerning an investment in the Participations. Each investor must rely on its own evaluation of the investment and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved, in making an investment decision with respect to the Participations.

Nothing in this document constitutes a waiver of immunity with regard to the assets of the CFC and the assets of Member Countries held by the CFC as stipulated in the Agreement Establishing the CFC. Therefore, no claims can, inter alia, be made to the Share Capital of the CFC, including promissory notes of the CFC, or against any Member States of the CFC, or against the provident fund moneys, if any, held by the CFC for its staff members, or against any other resources held by the CFC not explicitly allocated to ACT Fund, by any party nor for any reason on the basis of, or in connection with the Placement Documents.

Neither the ACT Fund nor the Participations have been registered in The Netherlands, The European Union or in any other jurisdiction. Specifically, any (future) offer of Participations would be exempt from the Netherlands Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het Financieel Toezicht, Wft) and would accordingly not be subject to supervision by the Netherlands Financial Supervising Authority (Stichting Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM).

Search