Hogan Lovells Assisted FMO Boost Food Security and Reduce Food Waste in Africa
Hogan Lovells advised Dutch development bank, FMO (Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.)
Hogan Lovells Assisted FMO Boost Food Security and Reduce Food Waste in Africa
Hogan Lovells advised Dutch development bank, FMO (Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.) on its co-investment in Commercial Cold Holdings Limited (CCH), a South African cold storage platform with a pan-African expansion strategy.
The co-investment with funds managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers will help CCH acquire and consolidate existing and greenfield businesses within the temperature-controlled logistics market, with a focus on storage. Its anchor investments are based in South Africa and Namibia. The investment is expected to boost food security and reduce food waste in Africa, while also supporting the development of sustainable infrastructure.
Hogan Lovells’ advice to FMO covered a range of legal matters, including the structuring of the co-investment, the negotiation of the terms of the co-investment agreement, and the drafting of the documentation related to the co-investment.
CCH intends to pursue its expansion beyond South Africa and Namibia into other countries across East, West, and North Africa.
One prominent benefit will be the significant reduction in the carbon footprint linked to regional logistics operations. This outcome will be realised through a dual approach: augmenting the utilisation of renewable energy sources to fuel the facilities and, in certain cases, adopting carbon dioxide (CO2) as a refrigerant.
The co-investment successfully concluded on July 7, 2023, aligns seamlessly with FMO’s strategic approach of engaging in impactful co-investments within its primary focus sectors alongside partner fund managers. CCH’s mission involves addressing a specific void in the food supply chain through an expansion of cold storage capacity. Maintaining an uninterrupted cold chain assumes great importance in minimising food losses and wastage, thereby indirectly advancing Sustainable Development Goal 2, which is centred around achieving zero hunger. Moreover, by creating meaningful employment opportunities during both the construction and operational phases, CCH will actively enhance livelihoods for its workforce while contributing substantively to the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 8, which pertains to fostering decent work and fostering economic growth.
The Hogan Lovells Johannesburg-based corporate/M&A team was led by Chris Green, Office Managing Partner, and senior associate, Simone Izzard.