Case Study 25
Transitioning of a donor backed open investment company to an impact investment fund for a London based family foundation
Client
African Agricultural Capital and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Mandate
Marmanie was retained to help AAC transition from an open ended investment company to a GP/LP structure in order to attract additional impact investors and grow its capital base. Marmanie’s mandate included re-crafting AAC’s investor documents and marketing material, clarifying AAC’s monitoring and evaluation framework and developing 5 in depth case studies of AAC investee companies. Marmanie was also retained to position AAC with impact investors globally and conduct a ‘pre-road show’ with a carefully selected number of potential investors.
Methodology
In order to reposition AAC successfully, Marmanie conducted a 2 week agribusiness tour of 16 of AAC’s investee companies in Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania . The Marmanie team also spent time with the management team and board of directors in London, Kampala and Dar Es Salaam, conducting thorough interviews with all staff and reviewing organisational process and structure. After re-crafting AAC’s investor documents Marmanie used its network to set up a pre-road show for AAC’s management team in both Europe and the USA.
Outcome
Marmanie produced new investor documents for AAC including a complete investor presentation, term sheet, 4 case studies, skeleton Private Placement Memorandum and contribution to their social media. The road show resulted in AAC being repositioned as an attractive impact investment opportunity for both philanthropic investors and more commercial players with soft commitments from DFIs as well as large foundations
Value Added
As a result of Marmanie’s approach, AAC was able to successfully reposition itself with impact investors and attract new external capital. Marmanie also provided the bridge needed between the initial philanthropic investors and for-profit social investors by creating an investment proposition and structure that appealed to both.