Bringing capital
to life.

Mandala Capital is a vision driven investment firm with an aim to transform the lives of hundreds of millions of farmers, making agriculture more sustainable, climate friendly and resilient while increasing people’s access to affordable, healthy and nutritious food.

 

We are a financial-first impact investor with a focus on investments in the food and agriculture value chain across South and South East Asia.

The region and sector offer compelling investment opportunities with a young and rapidly urbanizing population of 2 billion of which half remain linked to agriculture, a rising GDP per capita and stable economies. The region stands as an agriculture powerhouse and a global leader in the production of most major fruits and crops.

Largely private, family-owned companies coupled with small holder farmer producers have led to the region falling behind global peers on efficiency, productivity and technology adoption, creating areas for value addition and economies of scale.

We partner with visionary teams and executives and provide extensive financial and operational support to create a network of industry-leading champions that can transform our outdated food systems and solve challenges in climate, health and nutrition, resource efficiency and rural employment.

Let Mandala’s Managing Partner Uday Garg explain our mission and investment approach to you personally.

“The next ten years will be transformative for the sector as it faces challenges related to supply chain, climate change and resource efficiency coupled with rising demand.”

The Mandala
playbook

We take a highly operational approach to deliver exceptional performance. We identify scalable companies with a sustainable competitive advantage and make them regional, national and global industry leaders that can deliver attractive financial and social returns for our investors.

 

 

Thesis driven

We are focused in our research to identify the right areas for investments within a very large value chain. This results in stronger conviction, a better diligence process and greater understanding of the right business valuation.

Deal creation

We look beyond the spreadsheet and take the time to understand understand strategic and operational nuances. We understand family-run companies and form strong relationship networks with partners, supporting them through both good and challenging times.

Deal structuring

We are innovative and creative in deal structuring, giving us the ability to invest across the capital structure to achieve win-win outcomes for both the companies and our investors.

Value creation

We are thought leaders in our field. Our deep network and sector expertise enables us to transform business models, create efficiencies, drive growth and help build more resilient and valuable businesses.

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Impact Report 2023:
Caring for the climate, resources and people

This year, we continue our focus on climate, resources and people. We believe that these 3 elements are closely intertwined and must not be looked upon in isolation in order to achieve true sustainability.

We are proud of the impact that our portfolio companies have achieved in 2022 and strive towards doing more for the environment and the community in the coming year. 

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Mandala Capital portfolio company Jain Irrigation completes transaction to merge its international irrigation business with Rivulis

In continuation to our intimation dated June 21st, 2022, we are pleased to announce that Jain International Trading B.V. (“JITBV”) (a wholly owned subsidiary of Jain Irrigation) and Rivulis have completed the transaction contemplated therein. Merged entity will create a global Irrigation and Climate leader – being 2nd largest in the world with ~ US$ 750 million in revenues. The corporate brand of the combined company will be “Rivulis – In alliance with Jain International” (“MergeCo”).

All the regulatory approvals related to the merger of multiple overseas subsidiaries of JITBV have been received by both entities. The condition precedent required by Share Purchase Agreement entered into by Rivulis Pte. Ltd & Jain International Trading B.V, have been satisfied. Jain (Israel) B.V. (step down subsidiary of JITBV) shall hold a strategic minority stake of ~18.7% in Rivulis Pte. Ltd post merger.

By virtue of this cash and stock transaction, the following is achieved.

  • Reduction in consolidated net debt of Jain Irrigation by 44% i.e. ~INR 2,800 crore (INR 28.0 billion). December 31, 2022 debt was INR 6,415 crore post transaction debt will be down to INR 3,615 crore.
  • Release of corporate guarantee given by Jain Irrigation, India of US$ 300 million (eq. INR 24.6 billion) to bondholders and lenders of IIB.
  • Jain (Israel) B.V. will continue to hold meaningful stake of ~18.7% in MergeCo
  • Jain Irrigation shall have a long-term supply agreement with the MergeCo, which will drive revenues and profits.
  • The MergeCo will continue to use and promote prominent JAIN Brands in markets where they have significant presence and value.
  • In terms of governance, Jain shall have representative directors and observer on the board of the MergeCo and will be able to help its growth through its significant expertise in micro-irrigation.
  • Jain Irrigation retains potential future value generation from the creation of this large global irrigation leader.

Going forward, Jain Irrigation will focus on further improving India business to drive higher growth and margin in one of the fastest growing irrigation markets in the world, and eventually aim to reduce debt on the standalone Indian business balance sheet as well.

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Nutrition Technologies gets approval to import insect meal into EU and UK

The approval follows the inclusion of Malaysia as a third-party importer of insect-based ingredients to the EU.

In June of 2022, insect producers in Malaysia became eligible to export insect-based material to the EU for the first time, following Malaysia’s inclusion on the list of countries approved to export insects and insect-based products to the EU, joining a small selection of countries including Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and South Korea, with permission to do so.

On February 19, 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture approved Nutrition Technologies to export its insect meal and oil into the EU and UK markets, making it one of a handful of companies around the world and the first in Malaysia with this level of approval. The approval is for use in pet food, aquafeeds and fur animals.

A long approval process

“It has been a long process, partly because we are the first company in Malaysia to go through the approval process, so we and the Malaysian authorities had to do everything from scratch,” Nick Piggott, co-CEO and co-founder of Nutrition Technologies, told Aquafeed.com. “We originally applied to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), which is the competent authority regulating animal feed in Malaysia, in November 2021. At that time, Malaysia was not an approved 3rd party exporter to the EU, so the first process was for the EC’s DG Sante to assess and approve DVS as a competent authority capable of auditing farm operators in Malaysia to EU standards. This was completed in June 2022, and we were the first company audited in July 2022.”

The main requirements for the approval were to hold GMP and HACCP certificates and demonstrate global standards of food hygiene. “The UK and EU requirements are much more prescriptive than other countries, and far more procedural, mainly because our products are insect-based rather than animal- based,” Piggott told us.

The company also has the approval to ship to Thailand, Japan, Korea, Chile, Vietnam, Taiwan and Indonesia, all of which have pragmatic assessments of feed materials. “That basically means that we have to comply with the same regulations on quality and hygiene requirements as fishmeal, poultry meal, etc., rather than going through additional assessment simply because our material is of insect origin, rather than animal origin,” Piggott explained.

Markets

The first shipments to the EU and the UK will go in mid-March, once the company has processed the first TRACES health certificates. Nutrition Technologies currently ships industrial volumes of material throughout Asia and South America from the two-hectare factory in Malaysia.
The company is also beginning to ship to the U.S. this month and is looking into India. “We have a potential value-chain partnership in India which we are exploring that would bring sustainable, insect-fed seafood (primarily shrimp) to consumers in Japan and Europe. Our main focus is on pet food and aqua applications, so we’re focusing on markets that are strong in those two applications,” Piggott told us.

Less energy input

The insect meal is produced to the highest international safety and hygiene standards with full batch traceability, where the larvae are fed only vegetable-based agro-industrial materials such as palm and
grain byproducts.

Nutrition Technologies have a low-energy tropical production system that uses a unique combination of micro-organisms and black soldier flies to bioconvert 60,000 tonnes of waste organic byproducts into its value-adding products. As a tropical species, the black soldier fly larvae grow quickly and efficiently in the ambient Malaysian climate, meaning that very little energy is required to grow or breed the flies. This low-energy model means that the company benefits from a very low cost of production, but with the same high standards as any European or North American manufacturer, and is able to pass on those savings to the customer. This makes Nutrition Technologies’ products one of the most competitively priced insect products in the world, according to the company.

“This is a significant step forward in giving European manufacturers more sustainable options in their choice of feed ingredients,” said Nick Piggott, co-CEO and co-founder, Nutrition Technologies. “This development opens the door for new manufacturers to release insect-based products, and for existing manufacturers to both reduce their costs and improve their environmental footprint.”

Godavari Chairman Samir Somaiya recognized in Bioeconomy 500 for 2023

In Florida, The Daily Digest announced the Bioeconomy 500 for 2023, which recognizes individuals for their leadership contributions to the bioeconomy’s development and project deployment. The 500 honors scientists, engineers, policy makers, financiers, project developers, feedstock pioneers, off-takers, advocates and supply-chain and distribution partners.

All Digest subscribers were eligible to nominate and vote for candidates of their choosing.

All honorees on the 2023 Bioeconomy 500 list who attend ABLC can take part in the ceremony honoring and recognizing the Bioeconomy including the presentation of the official medals and ribbons to each honoree.

“The bioeconomy has grown leaps and bounds in the past 10 years,” said Digest editor Jim Lane, “and it is usually told as a story of technologies and Net Zero pledges — but it is individuals who actually translate opportunity into accomplishment, and the Bioeconomy 500 recognizes those individuals who played the leading part. Congratulations to all the winners and the friends who nominated, voted and campaigned for them.”

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