Ecus Administradora General de Fondos, a Chile-based venture capital firm 40%-owned by France-based Axa Private Equity, has started a $30m fund specialized in agriculture and food investments.
Ecus Agri-Food raised $11m from private investors and gained a credit line from Corfo, the Chilean economic development agency, for $19m.
Hubert Porte (pictured), executive chairman at Ecus, said the fund would link up deals between Europe and Chile. He told trade body Lavca: “In Europe, or more specifically in France, there is a deep know how of processed products with significant value added.
“At the same time, in Chile, the share of processed products versus raw material exports is still low. We do believe that we can trigger powerful synergies by incorporating technology and processes in order to help Chile to add value to its production and to reach its goal to become the world’s tenth largest food exporter.”
The new fund is managed by its investment director Nicolas Malard.