Namibian beef producers have pooled resources and raised N$146 million towards the establishment of a new export beef processing facility in the country.
The project, running under Savanna Beef Processors, raised more than 70% of its equity target from 549 beef producers and is working on a strategy to fund the remaining share capital.
Beef Value Chain Forum (BVCF), a company established November 2020, initiated the project. The company aims to create a sustainable cattle slaughter and marketing industry to capitalise on the lucrative beef export market.
This comes at a time when Namibia has started exporting beef to the United States of America and China, besides the traditional market of the European Union, Sweden and Norway.
This week Namibian beef scored a first by breaking into the Ghanaian market, giving a boost to producers in the northern communal areas.
According to the placement details, a pre-feasibility study on the Namibian beef value chain, was concluded in early 2020 and assessed the profitability of beef exports and highlighted its short-comings.
Cirrus Capital, the corporate/transaction advisors assisted with raising capital during the first round of funding for the new project from 24 April to 24 June 2022, where to date, 549 livestock producers subscribed and raised a total N$146.008 million in equity.
The company now has to raise the remaining N$54 million to hit the project’s equity target.
“With the Private Placement for Savanna Beef Processors Ltd, we embarked on a unique challenge to capitalise a newly incorporated public company and invite only beef producers to participate. The Cirrus Capital team was astonished by the enthusiasm from the Namibian farming community and the excitement to be involved in the new project. It was truly an honour to be involved in this process with the BVCF and Savanna,” Romé Mostert from Cirrus Capital said of the capital raise.
Chairperson of Savanna Beef Processors Ltd Mecki Schneider said he was impressed by the interest of producers to invest in the new beef processing facility.
“This clearly shows there is a need and desire to improve the profitability of cattle farming. With this producer driven initiative we should take control over our product for the benefit of the producer. This initiative will further enhance the “growth at home” concept, with additional foreign currency earnings, further job creation and initiative to reverse the declining economy in rural Namibia,” said Schneider.
Other board members include John Muinjo, Frederik Voigts, Harald Marggraff, Fanie Oosthuizen, Ebbie Fischer and Diethelm Metzger as Vice Chairperson.
