Singaporean commodity trader taps Mauritius to finance Africa operations

Singapore-based agribusiness group Valency International has raised US$15m through a bond sale in Mauritius to finance its operations in Africa. The fully subscribed first tranche forms part of a planned US$50m multi-tranche bond issuance. According to MCB Capital Markets, the Mauritius-based investment bank that acted as transaction advisor, this is the first time a Singapore-headquartered company has issued bonds in Mauritius to fund its activities on the continent.

The proceeds, channelled through Valency’s newly incorporated Mauritian subsidiary, will be used primarily to meet working capital needs in West Africa. Valency operates across multiple African countries, trading in products such as edible nuts, seeds, grains, cocoa, pulses, fast-moving consumer goods, fertilisers and agrochemicals. Until now, the company has largely relied on short-term credit lines to fuel its growth. The bond deal enables it to diversify funding sources and secure longer-term balance sheet financing. The transaction was supported by a credit risk guarantee from the Africa Solidarity Fund, a multilateral financial institution.

Valency, which began as a trader of African commodities destined for Asian markets, began vertically integrating its supply chain in 2015 by launching cashew processing operations in Nigeria. Last year, it secured US$60m in funding from a consortium of European development finance institutions (DFI) – including France’s Proparco, Germany’s DEG and the Netherlands’ FMO – to expand its Nigerian operations. The financing is being used to double the capacity of its cashew kernel factory in Ibafo, Ogun State, from 50 to 100 tonnes per day, adding an estimated 15,000 tonnes of annual processing capacity. Nearly all of the fully processed cashew kernels are intended for export.

More recently, the company inaugurated a new US$40m cashew processing facility in Côte d'Ivoire. Partially financed through debt from Norfund and Finnfund – the DFIs of Norway and Finland – the plant has an annual capacity of 45,000 tonnes. The investment aligns with Côte d’Ivoire’s aim to process half of its cashew crop locally by 2030, instead of exporting raw nuts for value addition overseas.

 

References

‘Proparco, DEG, and FMO partner to provide strategic syndicated financing to Valency International to drive agricultural growth and economic development in Africa’, Proparco, 18 December 2024

‘Valency International Pte. Limited’, FMO, Accessed 19 December 2024

'Monthly transaction overview – December 2024', FMO, 22 January 2025

'Investec provides supply chain finance for Valency International as sole funder', Investec, 10 June 2025

'MCB Capital Markets advises Valency International on its USD 15 million bond issuance', MCB Group, 16 July 2025

'Linkedin post', Valency International, July 2025

'News, awards & articles', Valency International, Accessed on 23 July 2025

'In a nutshell: Agri-processing adds value in Cote d’Ivoire’s cashew industry', World Bank Group, Accessed on 23 July 2025