GuarantCo partnered with Symbiotics to arrange a USD 20 million debt facility for Robust International Pte Ltd (Robust) to finance a cashew nut processing plant in Côte d’Ivoire.

To mobilise the private sector investment, GuarantCo provided a 100% payment default guarantee of up to USD 23 million (EUR equivalent) to support the loan facility.

The transaction features a novel structure, combining funding provided by institutional investor M&G Investments Ltd – the structure benefits from a guarantee provided by GuarantCo – with uncovered funding provided by impact funds advised by Symbiotics Asset Management.

The debt facility was provided by a Symbiotics-arranged vehicle, which in turn issued covered notes with the benefit of the GuarantCo guarantee. These covered notes have been subscribed to in full by M&G Investments. At the same time, uncovered notes were issued, without the benefit of the GuarantCo guarantee, which have been subscribed by impact funds advised by Symbiotics Asset Management.

The transaction will finance the development of a greenfield cashew nut processing plant with 15,000 MT/year processing capacity located in Toumodi. It will also support a new cashew aggregation warehouse centre with 25,000 MT/year capacity in Bouaké and 19,000MT/year capacity in Toumodi, which is expected to strengthen seasonal procurement and inventory management while reducing Robust’s reliance on leased warehousing.

Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest cashew producer but currently processes only circa 30% of its output in-market due to limited capacity and storage availability, as well as financing constraints. Processing cashews adds value; by enabling an increase in local processing, this deal will support government targets to process 50% of its cashews by 2030, promoting higher economic returns for the market.

The deal is forecast to result in the procurement of cashews from c. 1,500 local smallholder farmers and an increase of USD 79.2 million in export revenue. It is also expected to create 510 jobs, of which 40% of short-term and 80% of long-term jobs will be taken up by women.

The project applies circular economy principles by maximising resource efficiency and eliminating waste through the conversion of cashew shells into Cashew Nutshell Liquid (CNSL) and the reuse of residual shell cake by selling to a third party who will convert it to fertiliser.

The deal has very high relevance to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: 2 – Zero Hunger and 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.