Michelmores Corporate team has advised Zebu Investment Partners GP Limited (ZIP) on its investment in AMC Trade Finance Limited (AMCTF) through its sophomore fund, Africa Food Security LP (AFS LP).
ZIP is a private equity fund manager established to invest in food production and processing throughout the African continent.
AMCTF is a specialist trade finance institution, providing bespoke, secured, and structured trade finance solutions for Africa-focused trade. The investment from AFS LP is a combination of equity and preference shares, enabling AMCTF to leverage and expand its loan book, to benefit trade and SMEs across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Michelmores team comprised Joe Whitfield, Karl Taylor, and Tom Pedel.
Commenting on the deal, Joe Whitfield said:
“We were delighted to have assisted Zebu and the Africa Food Security Fund with its investment in AMC Trade Finance. This investment will help fill the African trade finance gap – recently estimated by an AfDB report to be US$81 billion and which will have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with SMEs being the most adversely impacted – and so help elevate millions of households from poverty.”
Karl Taylor added that:
“AMCTF has a proud history of providing trade finance solutions that enhance its clients’ working capital profile, enabling them to scale. With its stated aim of supporting businesses which have a trade focus in Africa and its future plans to continue to support and increase transactions which support SMEs in the food and agriculture chain, it is clear that its interests are very much aligned with those of Zebu. We are very pleased to have advised Zebu on this strategic investment and look forward to seeing AMCTF continue to grow and develop with the involvement and support of the Zebu team.”
On working with Michelmores, Brian Frimpong, Managing Partner of Zebu said:
“We value the alliance with Michelmores. The legal team’s rich resources and network enabled us address structuring and compliance matters in a laudable fashion, especially considering the constraints caused by COVID-19.”