Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest cashew producers of c. 250-300k tonnes of raw cashew nuts annually, yet currently less than 10 per cent are processed domestically.

Most raw nuts are exported unprocessed to Asian and other countries, forfeiting up to 80 per cent of their potential export value and adding exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations.

This additional plant will more than double Robust’s existing cashew processing capacity from 100 MT per day to 220 MT per day to help reduce this structural gap.

The new plant will be of extensive benefit to the local economy, with procurement of cashew nuts from c. 10,000 primarily low-income smallholder farmers.

There is an expected increase in export revenue (c. USD 335 million) and procurement from local supply chain over the lifetime of the guarantee.

Furthermore, the new plant will incorporate functionality to convert waste by-products into value-added biomass and biofuel inputs to enhance the environmental impact of the transaction.

It is anticipated that up to 900 jobs will be created, with as many as 78 per cent to be held by women. Robust also has a target to gradually increase the share of procurement from women farmers, from 15 per cent to 25 per cent by 2028, as it reaches new regions in Nigeria and extends its ongoing gender-responsive outreach programme for farmers.

The transaction is aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).

The debt facility was provided by a Symbiotics-arranged bond platform, which in turn issued notes with the benefit of the GuarantCo guarantee.

These notes have been subscribed to in full by M&G Investments.

The transaction was executed in record time due to the successful replication of two recent transactions in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, again in collaboration with M&G Investments and Symbiotics.

PIDG is funded by six governments: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden and Canada.

Commenting, Mr. Jonny Baxter, British Deputy High Commissioner, said:

“The UK is proud to support innovative financing that mobilises private capital into Nigeria’s productive economy through UK-backed institutions such as PIDG. By backing investment into local processing and value addition, this transaction supports jobs, exports and more resilient agricultural supply chains. Complementing this, through the UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnerships and the Developing Countries Trading Scheme, the UK is supporting Nigerian businesses to scale exports to the UK and beyond, demonstrating how UK-backed partnerships help firms grow and compete internationally.”

Dave Chalila, head of Africa and Middle East Investments at GuarantCo, said:

“This transaction marks GuarantCo’s third collaboration with M&G Investments and Symbiotics, emphasising our efforts to bring replicability to everything we do so that we accelerate socio-economic development where it matters most. The transaction is consistent with PIDG’s mandate to mobilise private capital into high impact, underfinanced sectors. In this case, crowding in institutional investors to the African agri-processing value chain.

“As with the two recent similarly structured transactions, funding is channelled through the Symbiotics institutional investor platform, with the notes externally rated by Fitch and benefiting from a rating uplift due to the GuarantCo guarantee.”

Vishanth Narayan, group executive director at Robust International Group, said:

“As a global leader in agricultural commodities, Robust International remains steadfast in its commitment to building resilient, ethical and value-adding supply chains across origin and destination markets. This transaction represents an important step in advancing our long-term strategy of strengthening processing capabilities, deepening engagement with farmers and enhancing local value addition in the regions where we operate. Through sustained investment, disciplined execution and decades of operating experience, we continue to focus on delivering reliable, high-quality products while fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”

María Redondo, director at M&G Investments, said:

“We’re pleased to partner again with Symbiotics and GuarantCo on this innovative transaction. The guarantee gives us the assurance to invest in hard currency, emerging market debt while supporting Robust’s new cashew processing plant in Nigeria. It’s a clear example of how smart credit enhancement can unlock institutional capital for high impact development and manage currency and credit risks effectively. This is another strong step in channelling institutional capital into meaningful, on‑the‑ground growth.”

Valeria Berzunza, Structuring & Arranging at Symbiotics, said:

“This third collaboration reinforces the value of developing structured financial products through strategic partnerships to mobilise investment from institutional investors seeking exposure to highly rated securities, into high impact projects in emerging markets. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with M&G Investments, GuarantCo, and now with Robust through a transaction with a strong social and gender focus, demonstrating that well-structured products can boost commercially attractive, viable, and impactful investments.”

GuarantCo and BII will provide $100 million ($50 million each) of default guarantee finance for Etana in South Africa’s largest “energy wheeling framework” transaction.

This innovative type of deal is designed to unlock new renewable energy capacity by providing independent power producers (IPPs) with the revenue certainty they need to break ground on new renewable energy projects.

It is expected that the US$100 million in guarantee financing will unlock an estimated US$500 million of new renewable energy projects – providing a major boost to South Africa’s green energy transition – and underlining the UK’s support for the country’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

Displacing fossil fuel generation with electricity generated from renewable sources will avoid 1.2 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions annually and create a significant number of new jobs.

This transaction qualifies under the IPG (International Partner Group countries) as part of their JETP commitment to South Africa. JETP is funded by several governments, including the UK, and serves to accelerate South Africa’s environmental transition in the energy sector. This is GuarantCo’s first contribution to this programme.

The guarantee facility will enable around 500MW to be added to the grid by several renewable energy (wind and solar) IPPs over the next few years.

Recent regulatory changes in South Africa have opened up the opportunity for private power producers to sell electricity to business customers , and companies like Etana are looking to accelerate this opportunity, expanding the addressable market by buying renewable energy from private generators and then selling that output to a portfolio of commercial customers by “wheeling” the electricity across the existing transmission network.

Etana’s founding shareholders are H1 Holdings, a black-owned investment company with which BII has a longstanding relationship, and Chariot Limited, a British group which is focused on developing transitional energy projects in Africa, listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM: CHAR).

Iain Macaulay, Director and Head of Project Finance, Africa for BII, said: “BII is demonstrating global leadership in unlocking private capital for climate finance. The Etana deal is a truly innovative form of financing that I hope will serve as a template for unlocking South Africa’s green energy potential.”

Evan Rice, CEO at Etana Energy, said: “We need to pursue all avenues that can unlock the capital required to build new electricity generation capacity in South Africa. Local businesses need low carbon, cost-competitive electricity to remain relevant and viable. Etana’s aggregation model offers a way to meet these needs whilst enabling new renewable energy capacity to be built.

This guarantees facility is a critical piece of the puzzle for a relatively new company like Etana to be a bankable offtaker for IPPs. We are incredibly grateful to GuarantCo and BII for their vision, support and commitment to catalysing this opportunity with us.’’

Surabhi Mathur Visser, Deputy CEO at GuarantCo, said: “We are proud to support the renewables sector in South Africa by entering into this guarantee framework agreement with Etana Energy. From an investment point of view, it provides strong replication opportunities by proving to the market that a guarantee framework can work at scale. GuarantCo continues to seek out potential market transformation transactions like this in lower-income communities to deliver against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in alignment with the PIDG 2030 strategy.”