Agri-Vie sells stake in South Africa abalone farming company

Agri-Vie Fund I, the Africa food and agribusiness investment fund managed by pan-African private equity investment firm EXEO Capital, has announced its exit from abalone farming company HIK Abalone Farm.

After a partnership which has significantly expanded the business over eight years, Agri-Vie sold its interest to African Pioneer Group.

EXEO Capital partner Izak Strauss said aquaculture remained a focus area for current investments.

“Just last year, our Agri-Vie Fund II concluded an investment into TerraSan – a fast-growing aquaculture company operating on the south and west coasts of South Africa,” he said.

“This is our second Agri -Vie Fund, building on the success of its predecessor $100 million fund.”

HIK chairman Peter Inglis said the development of an abalone farm was highly capital intensive during expansion phases, primarily because the revenue stream lagged capital expenditure by a number of years, making organic growth very slow.

“Investment by Agri-Vie has enabled HIK to advance the expansion cycle by the development of a second farm, enabling production to increase from 80 tonnes per year to 300 tonnes per year,” he said.

EXEO Capital is a mid-market private equity investment manager with operations in nine countries in sub-Sahara Africa. Source: IOL