GuarantCo, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has provided a 100 per cent guarantee to support a USD 75 million debt facility for Robust International Pte Ltd (Robust) to construct a new cashew nut processing plant in Ogun State, Nigeria.
Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest cashew producers of c. 250-300k tonnes of raw cashew nuts annually, yet currently less than 10 per cent are processed domestically. Most raw nuts are exported unprocessed to Asian and other countries, forfeiting up to 80 per cent of their potential export value and adding exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations. This additional plant will more than double Robust’s existing cashew processing capacity from 100 MT per day to 220 MT per day to help reduce this structural gap.
The new plant will be of extensive benefit to the local economy, with procurement of cashew nuts from c. 10,000 primarily low-income smallholder farmers. There is an expected increase in export revenue (c. USD 335 million) and procurement from local supply chain over the lifetime of the guarantee.
Furthermore, the new plant will incorporate functionality to convert waste by-products into value-added biomass and biofuel inputs to enhance the environmental impact of the transaction.
It is anticipated that up to 900 jobs will be created, with as many as 78 per cent to be held by women. Robust also has a target to gradually increase the share of procurement from women farmers, from 15 per cent to 25 per cent by 2028, as it reaches new regions in Nigeria and extends its ongoing gender-responsive outreach programme for farmers.
The transaction is aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
The debt facility was provided by a Symbiotics-arranged bond platform, which in turn issued notes with the benefit of the GuarantCo guarantee. These notes have been subscribed to in full by M&G Investments. The transaction was executed in record time due to the successful replication of two recent transactions in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, again in collaboration with M&G Investments and Symbiotics.
PIDG is funded by six governments: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden and Canada.
British Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. Jonny Baxter, said: “The UK is proud to support innovative financing that mobilises private capital into Nigeria’s productive economy through UK-backed institutions such as PIDG. By backing investment into local processing and value addition, this transaction supports jobs, exports and more resilient agricultural supply chains.
Complementing this, through the UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnerships and the Developing Countries Trading Scheme, the UK is supporting Nigerian businesses to scale exports to the UK and beyond, demonstrating how UK-backed partnerships help firms grow and compete internationally.”
Dave Chalila, Head of Africa and Middle East Investments at GuarantCo, said: “This transaction marks GuarantCo’s third collaboration with M&G Investments and Symbiotics, emphasising our efforts to bring replicability to everything we do so that we accelerate socio-economic development where it matters most. The transaction is consistent with PIDG’s mandate to mobilise private capital into high impact, underfinanced sectors. In this case, crowding in institutional investors to the African agri-processing value chain.
“As with the two recent similarly structured transactions, funding is channelled through the Symbiotics institutional investor platform, with the notes externally rated by Fitch and benefiting from a rating uplift due to the GuarantCo guarantee.”
Vishanth Narayan, Group Executive Director at Robust International Group, said: “As a global leader in agricultural commodities, Robust International remains steadfast in its commitment to building resilient, ethical and value-adding supply chains across origin and destination markets. This transaction represents an important step in advancing our long-term strategy of strengthening processing capabilities, deepening engagement with farmers and enhancing local value addition in the regions where we operate. Through sustained investment, disciplined execution and decades of operating experience, we continue to focus on delivering reliable, high-quality products while fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”
María Redondo, director at M&G Investments, said: “We’re pleased to partner again with Symbiotics and GuarantCo on this innovative transaction. The guarantee gives us the assurance to invest in hard currency, emerging market debt while supporting Robust’s new cashew processing plant in Nigeria. It’s a clear example of how smart credit enhancement can unlock institutional capital for high impact development and manage currency and credit risks effectively. This is another strong step in channelling institutional capital into meaningful, on‑the‑ground growth.”
Valeria Berzunza, Structuring & Arranging at Symbiotics, said: “This third collaboration reinforces the value of developing structured financial products through strategic partnerships to mobilise investment from institutional investors seeking exposure to highly rated securities, into high impact projects in emerging markets. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with M&G Investments, GuarantCo, and now with Robust through a transaction with a strong social and gender focus, demonstrating that well-structured products can boost commercially attractive, viable, and impactful investments.”
About GuarantCo: GuarantCo mobilises private sector local currency investment for infrastructure projects and supports the development of financial markets in lower income countries across Africa and Asia.
GuarantCo is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, through the PIDG Trust, the Netherlands, through FMO and the PIDG Trust, France through a stand-by facility and Global Affairs Canada through a repayable facility. GuarantCo is rated AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moody’s. Since 2005, GuarantCo has enabled USD 7.1 billion of total investment and USD 6.8 billion of private sector investment, giving 44.8 million people access to infrastructure and creating around 248,000 jobs. GuarantCo’s activities are managed by GuarantCo Management Company which is part of Cardano Development.www.guarantco.com
About PIDG:
The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is an innovative infrastructure project developer and investor which mobilises private investment in sustainable and inclusive infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia. PIDG investments promote socio-economic development within a just transition to net zero emissions, combat poverty and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PIDG delivers its ambition in line with its values of pioneering, partnership, safety, inclusivity, and urgency. PIDG offers technical assistance for upstream, early-stage activities and concessional capital; invests in early-stage project development and project and corporate equity through its project development solution, InfraCo; its debt solution EAAIF (the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund) is one of the first and more successful blended debt funds in low-income markets; and its guarantees solution, GuarantCo, provides credit enhancement and local currency solutions to de-risk projects. PIDG also supports a growing portfolio of local credit enhancement facilities, which unlock domestic institutional capital for infrastructure financing. Since 2002, PIDG has supported 258 infrastructure projects to financial close, which provided an estimated 232 million people with access to new or improved infrastructure. PIDG is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, and Global Affairs Canada. www.pidg.org
About Robust:
Robust International is a Singapore-headquartered agribusiness group, founded in 2006, with operations spanning Africa, Asia and Europe, focused on the sourcing, processing and global distribution of agricultural commodities. The Group operates an integrated platform covering origination, processing, logistics and international marketing, with a strong emphasis on value addition at origin and long-term partnerships with farmers and local suppliers. Robust has built and scaled multiple processing and trading businesses across key African producing countries, supported by in-house logistics and experienced management teams on the ground. The Group serves a diversified global customer base and continues to expand its integrated operations across key origin and destination markets. Further information is available at www.robust-international.com
About Symbiotics: Symbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing, dedicated to private markets in emerging and frontier economies. The group offers investment, asset management and capacity building services. Since 2005, we have originated over 8,200 investments representing more than USD 10.5 billion for 608 companies in 99 countries. We manage an aggregate portfolio of USD 2.5 billion spread across 19 funds and mandates. Our portfolio companies have also benefited from over 170 technical assistance projects worth more than USD 19 million.symbioticsgroup.com
About M&G Investments:
M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a savings and investment business which was formed in 2017 through the merger of Prudential plc’s UK and Europe savings and insurance operation and M&G, its wholly owned international investment manager. M&G plc listed as an independent company on the London Stock Exchange in October 2019 and has £365 billion of assets under management (as of 30 September 2025). M&G plc has customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members. For nearly nine decades M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes and vital infrastructure in the real economy. Its investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure and real estate. M&G recognises the importance of responsible investing and is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and is a member of the Climate Bonds Initiative Partners Programme. M&G plc has committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions on its total book of assets under management and administration by 2050 and committed to reduce operational carbon emissions as a corporate entity to net zero by 2030. For more information, please visit: https://global.mandg.com/
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