US private equity firms Carlyle and NGP Global Agribusiness Partners (NGP Gap), have launched a co-investment private equity fund, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Carlyle NGP Agribusiness Holdings is the GP and has so far raised $11.4 million. Neither firm would comment on the joint venture – Carlyle NGP Agribusiness Coinvestment, LP – stating private placement marketing regulations.
NGP Gap, the subsidiary of NGP Energy Capital Management, closed its debut vehicle on $402 million in April after getting demand for more than its $320 million target. Fund I’s investor base is predominantly existing investors in NGP’s existing natural resource funds.
Carlyle has never had a dedicated agribusiness fund but has invested in agri-related deals in the past such as the $175 million it made into CP Pokphand, one of China’s largest livestock and aqua feed producers, in 2010. The firm also established a strategic partnership with Dangote Industries, an African business conglomerate, to co-invest into the consumer, financial services and agribusiness sectors with its Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund in August this year.
“Agribusiness is one of the greatest areas for private equity,” said Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein during the firm’s second-quarter earnings call in July.