Our Views

1. Business Model and Investment Approach of the Agribusiness JV Tepro+Aninver

Investing in large-scale agribusiness projects in emerging markets requires an innovative business model that balances financial returns with sustainable impact. The joint venture (JV) between Aninver Development Partners (www.aninver.com) and Tepro Consultores  Agricolas (www.tepro.es) introduces a structured agribusiness investment platform tailored for institutional investors, development finance institutions (DFIs), funds, and governments. This article explores our business model and investment approach – including how we can support investors to structure investment vehicles, utilize blended finance, enable direct investments, and deliver unique benefits for investors seeking opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Aninver was the winner of the 2023 Africa Global Funds Service providers in the category “project Finance”

2. Structured Investment Vehicles for Agribusiness Growth

1. Pooled Investment Funds: Our teams can support the use of investment funds dedicated to agribusiness opportunities. By helping to design and launch sector-focused funds, we allow multiple investors to pool capital and achieve diversification across a portfolio of agricultural projects. Such funds target scalable ventures like commercial farms, processing facilities, and agribusiness infrastructure. This pooled approach mirrors successful industry examples – for instance, Actis launched a US$92 million Africa agribusiness fund that invested in projects across Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia, Tanzania, South Sudan and more​. Similar to other asset managers, the JV’s agribusiness fund structure provides investors with exposure to multiple emerging market projects while spreading risk and tapping into professional fund management expertise.
2. Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs): In cases where investors prefer targeting specific projects, the JV can establish SPVs or co-investment vehicles for individual farm enterprises or agribusiness ventures. Each SPV ring-fences a project’s assets, revenues, and liabilities, giving investors a direct equity stake in a defined venture. This structure offers flexibility – an institutional investor could take a significant stake in a 5,000-hectare commercial farm via an SPV, for example, while the JV provides management and oversight. By structuring deals through SPVs, the JV aligns investor interests directly with project performance, and simplifies the entry of new co-investors or financiers at the project level.

Our teams can support in structuring large farm investments in developing economies

c. Blended Finance Platforms: A distinguishing feature of our approach is leveraging blended finance – i.e. combining public, concessional, or impact-driven capital with conventional private investment. Blended finance can de-risk projects and attract larger pools of funding for high-impact agribusiness initiatives. For instance, the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) uses a blended model of public and private funds to finance projects in Africa, illustrating how structuring finance in this way can unlock big investments in challenging markets. Our team applies similar principles to agriculture: concessional capital from DFIs or climate funds can serve as junior equity or first-loss capital in an agribusiness fund, thereby catalyzing private investment by mitigating risk. According to the Global Impact Investing Network, blended finance is crucial for channeling capital to businesses in emerging economies that need it most​. By stacking grants, soft loans, or guarantees alongside investor equity, the JV’s vehicles make projects bankable that might otherwise be overlooked – such as rehabilitating an abandoned state-owned farm or scaling an out grower scheme with thousands of smallholders.

d. Direct Investment Opportunities: While funds and structured platforms are key, we can also support investors seeking direct investments in agribusiness assets. This may appeal to family offices, sovereign wealth funds, or strategic industry players that want ownership of farms or agribusiness companies without intermediaries. The Tepro+Aninver team sources and vets opportunities (e.g. a majority stake in a sugar mill or a long-term lease of irrigated farmland) and presents these for direct co-investment. Tepro’s on-the-ground presence and Aninver’s deal advisory experience enable the JV to originate proprietary deals. For example, if a government in Sub-Saharan Africa is privatizing a large rice plantation, we can facilitate a direct investment consortium to acquire and develop it – structuring the transaction, conducting due diligence, and managing the asset post-acquisition.

3. Financing Options: Funds, Debt Instruments, and Innovative Vehicles

a. Private Equity and Venture Funds: One financing option is setting up private equity funds that take equity stakes in agribusiness ventures. Equity funding is well-suited to greenfield and brownfield farm projects that require patient capital and strategic guidance. Through active support, our teams can improve governance and operations in investee companies. As seen in industry trends, private equity interest in agriculture is rising as investors recognize the potential for strong returns alongside social impact​. The fund strategy targets both financial returns and impact, aligning with the fact that the majority of impact investors pursue market-competitive or market-beating returns in agriculture​. Investors in the fund benefit from active asset management to drive value creation (e.g. improving crop yields, expanding processing capacity, optimizing supply chains) which ultimately enhances exit values or dividend flows

Equity funding is well-suited to greenfield and brownfield farm projects

b. Debt Financing and Credit Structures: In addition to equity, we can help to structure debt financing for agribusiness projects – such as credit facilities for plantation expansion or working capital lines for processors. By offering senior or mezzanine debt through its vehicles, the investor taps into yield-seeking capital that prefers fixed-income assets. An example is Inoks Capital’s recent impact fund which provides senior debt to sustainable agriculture businesses, backed by the European Investment Fund​. Similarly, our team could arrange an agribusiness debt fund or help to partner with development banks to lend to projects at competitive rates. Blending debt with equity in the capital stack allows tailoring the financing to each project’s needs. For instance, a 10,000-hectare grain farm might use a combination of equity (to acquire land and equipment) and long-term debt (to finance operational costs until break-even), thereby optimizing the overall cost of capital.

c. Public-Private Partnership Models: Where governments are involved (e.g. concession of land or public agribusiness facilities), we recommend embracing Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models. Under a PPP, the JV can co-create investment vehicles with government participation or guarantees. One model is a fund-of-funds or investment facility seeded by government or DFI money, which Aninver (one of the key PPP advisors in developing economies) can help to manage to attract private co-investors. This structure has precedents in infrastructure and is now being applied to agriculture. For example, the African Agriculture Fund (a pan-African agribusiness fund) had backing from DFIs and governments to spur private equity into the sector. By structuring similar blended vehicles, our team makes it easier for institutional capital to flow into projects that also serve government objectives like food security or rural employment. Investors benefit by co-investing alongside reputable public entities, gaining assurance of political support and additional risk buffers (such as partial credit guarantees or political risk insurance). You can see more about Aninver´s experience in PPPs in this link.

Aninver is one of the consulting firms of reference in public-private partnerships in emerging markets

d. Innovative Instruments: We can help our clients to stay at the forefront of agribusiness finance by exploring innovative investment instruments. These may include green bonds or impact bonds linked to agricultural outcomes (for example, a bond tied to reforestation or climate-smart farming metrics). It might also involve revenue-sharing agreements where investors earn a percentage of crop revenues, providing a return linked directly to farm performance. Our team designs these instruments to appeal to impact-focused investors – for instance, a climate-focused fund could issue a bond to finance solar-powered irrigation across multiple farms, with returns backed by both farm income and carbon credits. By packaging investments in new ways, one can tap into thematic funding pools (like climate finance, food security funds, etc.) and widen the spectrum of interested investors beyond traditional finance. This flexibility in financing options underscores our commitment to meet investor preferences – whether one prioritizes steady yield, capital appreciation, or measurable impact outcomes.

4. Unique Benefits of our Agribusiness Investment Model

Investors partnering with us can gain distinct advantages that set the model apart from conventional investment funds:

• Integrated Expertise in Operations and Finance: Our JV combines Tepro’s 40+ years of agricultural expertise with Aninver’s financial and advisory acumen. Tepro is one of Spain’s leading agribusiness groups with nearly 50 years of experience in managing farm operations​. It currently manages about 80,000 hectares of agricultural land across Spain, Portugal, and Bulgaria​, bringing unparalleled operational know-how. This means that our team is not just a capital advisor but a hands-on operator, actively supervising farm management on behalf of investors. This integrated approach mitigates execution risk – a key benefit, as many institutional investors lack the capability to run farms day-to-day. By entrusting the JV, investors ensure that their assets are managed by seasoned agronomists and farm managers using best practices.
• Rigorous Project Selection and Due Diligence: With Aninver’s global consulting experience (125+ projects in over 65 countries, 33 in Africa​), the team employs stringent due diligence processes for screening opportunities. Every potential investment undergoes thorough feasibility analysis, market study, and ESG risk assessment. Aninver’s background in advising World Bank, African Development Bank, and others​, provides the JV with frameworks to evaluate projects against international standards. Investors benefit from this rigor through a de-risked pipeline of bankable projects. Only ventures that clear viability benchmarks – e.g. solid land titles, water access, community support, robust financial projections – are presented for investment. This reduces the likelihood of surprises and aligns the portfolio with investors’ risk appetite.

Every potential investment undergoes thorough feasibility analysis, market study, and ESG risk assessment. 

• Blended Finance Enhances Impact and Reduces Risk: The blended finance model isn’t just a structuring novelty; it provides tangible benefits to investors. By layering concessionary capital into deals, we can provide credit enhancements (e.g. subordinate equity taking first loss) that protect commercial investors from downside risk. For example, if a DFI or climate fund contributes a 10% first-loss tranche in a farm rehabilitation project, private investors in that project enjoy an extra cushion against losses. At the same time, blended structures amplify impact – projects can incorporate components like smallholder training or climate adaptation funded by grants, which enhance long-term success. This synergy of impact and risk mitigation makes the  projects attractive to investors who seek stable returns with ESG benefits. It aligns with industry recognition that agriculture investments can achieve both financial returns and positive social/environmental outcomes​.
• Geographic Diversification in High-Growth Markets: The focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America gives investors exposure to regions with high growth potential and diversification benefits. Africa alone holds 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land​, signaling vast opportunity for expanding agricultural production. Southeast Asia is a powerhouse in commodities like rice, palm oil, and coffee, with growing consumer markets and improving investment climates. Latin America is a global agricultural exporter and is seeing new investment in sustainable farming and agritech. By structuring a portfolio across these regions, Tepro+Aninver can help investors spread geographic risk and tap into multiple growth drivers. Importantly, agriculture returns in these markets often have a low correlation with traditional asset classes, providing a hedge against volatility. Historically, agricultural investments worldwide have shown stable returns (averaging mid to high single digits annually over two decades) and resilience to economic downturns​. This model allows investors to capture this stability and long-term appreciation potential in emerging economies – a valuable diversification play for institutional portfolios.
• Active Value Creation and Operational Improvements: Unlike passive investors, the our join team takes an active role in value creation for each project. Through Tepro’s farm management arm, the JV implements improvements such as modern irrigation (for water efficiency), mechanization, crop rotation and soil management, and introduction of high-yield seed varieties. These operational enhancements can rapidly increase a farm’s productivity and profitability. For example, Tepro’s use of precision irrigation and data-driven agronomy in Spain has achieved up to 58% water savings while maintaining yields​ – a technique that can be transferred to projects in water-scarce African regions. The JV also applies strict financial management and cost control, drawing on Aninver’s consulting efficiency. The result for investors is improved project performance: higher yields, better quality output, and optimized costs lead to stronger revenue and profit trajectories than baseline. This active management is a unique benefit – it aims to turn underperforming assets into high-performing ones, thereby potentially boosting investor returns and enabling successful exits (e.g. trade sale or IPO of an agribusiness venture after operational turnaround).

5. Case Study: Rehabilitating a Plantation with a Blended Finance Approach

To illustrate some of these ideas in action, consider a hypothetical case blending features discussed:

A government in Sub-Saharan Africa offers a 25-year concession on a neglected 5,000-hectare irrigated rice farm. The investor, with the support of Tepro+Aninver, sees this case as an opportunity to transform this state farm into a profitable, sustainably run agribusiness. It sets up a project SPV – “African Rice Co.” – and brings together a coalition of investors:

• A DFI provides a 20% junior equity tranche (high-risk capital) and a $5 million grant for infrastructure rehabilitation.
• An agribusiness fund invests 50% equity, sourced from its pool of institutional LPs.
• A strategic agri investor (e.g. an Asia-based rice trading company) takes 15% equity, interested in securing supply.
• The remaining funding comes as a long-term debt from a blended finance facility co-managed by the JV, with partial credit guarantees from a government bank.

With financing in place, the JV takes over operations through Tepro’s farm management team. In year one, they rebuild irrigation canals, upgrade milling equipment, and train the local workforce in modern farming techniques (leveraging a capacity-building grant component). Smallholders around the estate are organized into an outgrower scheme – the JV provides them inputs and training, and they supply paddy to the mill, boosting local inclusion.

Capacity building is essential: train the local workforce in modern farming techniques (for example, leveraging a capacity-building grant component). 

By year three, yields per hectare have doubled and the mill operates at 80% capacity, supplying both domestic and export markets. African Rice Co. becomes a showcase of blended finance success: investors earn returns from both dividends and asset appreciation, while the project improves food security, livelihoods, and climate resilience (through efficient water use and climate-smart practices). Such a case demonstrates how the JV’s model can turn an underperforming public asset into a thriving venture by strategic structuring of finance and expert management.

6. Conclusion: A New Paradigm for Agribusiness Investment

The Aninver-Tepro agribusiness JV’s business model is designed to bridge the gap between ambitious agricultural projects in emerging markets and the capital they need. By offering well-structured investment vehicles – from pooled funds to bespoke SPVs – and by leveraging blended finance, we can unlock opportunities with attractive risk-return profiles. Investors gain a trusted partner that not only brings capital structuring expertise but also operational excellence to ensure project success.

With agriculture poised for growth and transformation (driven by global demand for food, sustainability imperatives, and technology innovation), we can provide an ideal platform for institutional investors to participate in the upside. It delivers the confidence that comes from a solid investment approach: diversified portfolios, risk mitigation, active management, and alignment with impact goals.

Aninver + Tepro teams can support investors in identifying, analyzing, structuring, developing and enhancing agribusiness large projects in emerging markets 

For investors and development partners interested in tapping into high-potential agribusiness projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, now is the time to engage. Contact our team (aninver@aninver.com) to learn more about investment vehicles and structuring potential opportunities, and discover how you can invest in sustainable agribusiness ventures that yield robust returns and lasting impact. Our teams are ready to turn capital into transformative growth – join us in harvesting the opportunities in emerging markets’ agriculture.