South African private equity fund Pembani Remgro, global asset manager the Carlyle Group and Standard Chartered have invested US$210mn in Africa’s Export Trading Group (ETG).

Carlyle and Pembani Remgro provided the largest chunk of the US$210mn investment, Genevieve Sangudi, managing director and co-head of the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa fund, confirms to GTR.

This is Carlyle’s debut investment into the African markets.

In the last 12 months ETG has attracted US$284mn in equity investments, Jean Craven, head of corporate finance at ETG says.

Standard Chartered’s Africa private equity division (SCPE) pledged US$74mn in January, while ETG’s founders have also subscribed for additional equity.

“The use of the added capital will allow ETG to significantly enhance infrastructure developments in parts of Africa and Asia, and purchase much-needed processing equipment,” Sangudi says.

Sangudi explains to GTR that currently, ETG only processes 50% of the commodities it sources, so the extra processing facilities will play a part in keeping its home-grown produce within the continent.

The added investments will also accelerate the expansion of ETG’s business across Sub-Saharan Africa, India, China and South East Asia and will enhance the ability to connect African smallholder farmers to consumers around the world.

Marlon Chigwende, managing director and co-head of the Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa fund, says: “Carlyle has a strong track record of helping companies in emerging markets become highly competitive, global companies. We look forward to accelerating ETG’s growth, building value for its shareholders and supporting African smallholder farmers.”

ETG owns and manages an integrated agriculture supply chain with operations in procurement, processing, warehousing, transportation, distribution and merchandising.

The company connects African smallholder farmers to consumers around the world by procuring, processing and distributing agricultural commodities including maize, pulses, wheat, rice, cashew nuts, soya, fertiliser, sugar, coffee and tea.