Rabo reaches $80m initial close on India agribusiness fund

The fund is targeting a total corpus of $200 million, less than the $250 million announced when the vehicle launched in 2012, but more than firm's 2008 vintage maiden fund, which reached a final close of $120 million in 2010.

The fund is anchored by three return investors: Dutch parent company Rabobank and two development finance institutions (DFI), UK-based CDC Group and FMO of the Netherlands. First time investor IFU - Denmark's DFI - has also has made a commitment. Two other LPs are understood to have agreed to supply the extra $20 million needed to reach $100 million and are going through a final round of approvals.

"The strategy is the same, we will do growth and expansion investments in around 40 sub-sectors within the food and agriculture industry," Rajesh Srivastava, Rabo's chairman and managing director, told AVCJ "The ticket size has changed a little, we were investing $8-10 million in the first fund, but now we will do $15-20 million as the companies we are targetting have changed in scale and size."

According to AVCJ Research, Rabo Equity's other backers for India Agri Business Fund I included Capvent India Advisors, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Germany's RWB.

Fund I has made around 12 investments, including milk products company Prabhat Dairy, which Rabo Equity backed by taking part in two $20 million rounds in 2012 and 2013, and agriculture rsik managment firm National Collateral Management Services. Rabo participated in two rounds in 2011 and 2013 totaling $30 million.

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• Topics
• Industrials
• South Asia
• Fundraising
• Agriculture
• India
• Rabobank Private Equity
• Fundraising