Belize cropping owner-operator raises further $2m – exclusive

Belize own-and-operate cropping investment manager Caribbean Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) has raised a further $2 million towards its $10 million Series A round of funding.

The Nevis-based company held a first close last July on $2.5 million and expects to close the round finally at the end of June.

Allan Marson, a retired partner at Goldman Sachs and a “seasoned veteran of the global commodity market” is one of the investors in the latest round of fundraising and has joined the board of directors as one of the company’s biggest investors so far, according to Geoffrey de Sibert, chairman and chief executive of CSA.

The firm is also in talks with debt providers including a US specialised fund and the local banking market to provide finance after the preferred and common equity round has closed.

Next month the firm will plant the first block of land it owns; until now it has been operating on leased or joint venture land.

De Sibert is positive about the outlook for the project as the corn and soybean prices the project realised last harvest were strong.

“Commodity prices in Belize have stayed strong despite subdued pricing in the global markets because they reflect the strong structural deficits in the region, namely the need to import food, so as a local producer you pick up the transportation differential,” he told Agri Investor.