Aavishkaar Capital and KfW announce the launch of USD 250 Million “Global Supply Chain Support Fund” to help emerging mid-market businesses scale in a global market

Aavishkaar Capital (Aavishkaar) announces the launch of the GSC Support Fund, a fund focused on strengthening export businesses and global supply chains practice of mid-cap businesses to help them scale through access to new markets, where the consumer demand for goods and services produced in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner is on the rise. The fund is in partnership with KfW.

 

Leveraging on the global drive for sustainability and equality, the GSC Support Fund is a USD 250 Mn fund focused on investing in Africa and Asia with the mandate of generating superior Global Supply outcomes and commercially viable financial returns alongside positive social impact. The GSC Support Fund will seek to provide transformational capital which can be invested across the capital structure, helping businesses improve their supply chian standards so that they can capitalize on the increasing consumer preference for purpose-driven businesses. The Fund aims to partner with mid-cap businesses and entrepreneurs sharing Aavishkaar’s goal for enhanced global supply chain standards to deepen their access to significantly developed markets such as Europe. The GSC Support Fund  is sector-agnostic and likely to target businesses in the sustainable agriculture and food chains, consumer goods such as textile, footwear, cosmetics, accessories etc., and other selective export businesses such as light manufacturing & services.

 

The Fund is the first global fund having a south-south investment mandate with an investment process centered on Global Supply Chain, Agri Export Businesses, export businesses, from investment to portfolio management to exit. In addition, the fund will focus on growing mid-cap enterprises by gaining and/or deepening access to evolved export markets such as Europe. The Fund will espouse an investing strategy that would aim to measure ESG improvements, taking the entire value chain into consideration, against benchmarked best practice implementations with the help of a dedicated team of global supply specialists. It will provide catalytic capital solutions, investing across the capital structure, for mid-market businesses which need strategic capital. The fund would seek to deploy over 90% of the committed capital, investing across the capital structure, thereby providing a unique opportunity to efficiently deploy capital and earn fixed income returns combined with equity upside. 

 

Aavishkaar Group Founder and Chairman, Vineet Rai said “As the world embarks on eradicating poverty and hunger through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Aavishkaar Capital believes the GSC Support Fund  with its Africa-Asia focus and a unique strategy of investing across equity and debt will help businesses scale while delivering enriching impact outcomes on environment and society.  We are confident of delivering attractive returns whilst bringing about a significant positive change in the lives of the people.”

 

Speaking about their investment in the GSC Support Fuhnd, Thomas Reker of KFW said “We believe in the ability of purpose-driven, responsible capital to be transformative while creating attractive investment returns. This fund aligns with our focus on businesses that bring in financial inclusion and economic development, and will help us reach businesses globally that are impactful.”

 

Commenting on the investment, Ashish Patel, Managing Partner, GSC Support Fund – Aavishkaar Capital said, “Our focus is to help businesses scale by allowing them to participate in the significant growth of consumer demand for ‘socially-conscious products’. We will support our partners develop stronger global supply chain standards and share the benefits of our south-south leanings. Additionally, our investment approach of providing flexible solutions across the capital structure will help businesses which may not be ready for an all-equity or all-debt solution, or where shareholders may not wish to dilute.”

 

 

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