Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has granted UAE-based agro-food enterprise Invictus Investment a financing package to support the company’s expansion into new markets in Africa.
The move was announced in a joint statement released last Thursday. The deal builds on the existing partnership between MCB and Invictus Investment and reflects a shared commitment to advancing food security and trade flows within and out of Africa.
The financing package is structured as an acquisition finance and revolving credit facility and will support Invictus’ expansion into new markets while also strengthening its working capital position as it continues to scale up existing operations.
The amount of the finance package was not disclosed in the statement.
“The debt facility will provide the funding flexibility needed to expand Invictus Investment’s footprint in processing, logistics and distribution. It will also support the growth and consolidation of a portfolio of value-adding, resilient food and fast-moving consumer goods assets on the African continent that serve local and regional markets.”
Invictus Investment Company, headquartered in Dubai, is an agro-food commodities producer founded in 2014. The company initially offered procurement services that supplied raw materials and finished goods in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Mauritius Commercial Bank is a bank in Mauritius that offers financial solutions, including retail, business, and corporate banking, factoring, leasing, global business, wealth management, and investment products, with a presence in markets including Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, Réunion, Mayotte, France, South Africa, Kenya, Dubai and Nigeria.
Thierry Hebraud, CEO of Mauritius Commercial Bank, said the deal demonstrated the bank’s ability to structure sophisticated financing solutions to support its customers and their ecosystems, while using finance to create a sustainable future for the clients and communities it serves.
“The relationship with Invictus Group is of strategic value for us, as it aligns well with our willingness to develop long-lasting relationships with multinationals doing business in Africa. This important financing package, which has been extended to Invictus Investment, highlights MCB’s objective to support agro-processing players involved in food security on the continent.”
Amir Daoud Abdellatif, CEO of Invictus Investment, said the financing agreement underscored the confidence Invictus Investment’s partners have in the company’s financial and operational performance and “our ability to deliver sustainable growth and value creation”.
“It gives us greater flexibility to optimise our capital structure and continue expanding in high-growth markets and supports our vision to develop a fully integrated enterprise that contributes to food security in the Middle East and Africa.
“We see this as an important step towards creating a broader network of partners at multiple levels that are working together to deliver lasting value for communities and build long-term food resilience across regions.”
Speaking at the African Agri Investment Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday, former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, said African economies needed to become more strategic about attracting capital investments into the continent’s agriculture sector as a job creator and a solution to food security challenges in the region.
“We possess more than 60% of arable land, and yet we are going hungry. What does that do for us? With land and population, we should only need investment to avoid import dependence. Yes, land, population and then capital. There is a small fourth one, which is research and innovation.”
He also decried the imbalance in the cost of capital, which is steepest for the poorest countries that need the capital the most. He added that production and markets on the continent are highly fragmented, dominated by smallholder farmers.
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