Ethiopian edible oils company Turaco has attracted a $22m investment from French development finance organisation Proparco and South Africa’s Ethos Mezzanine Partners. The investment will fund the expansion of Turaco’s manufacturing operations, which include the Tena edible oil brand.
Turaco manufactures and sells edible sunflower and soya oil under the Tena brand. It also manufactures soaps, detergents and personal care products. Proparco is partly owned by the French government’s Agence Française de Développement (AFD). Ethos Mezzanine Partners is managed by 54 Capital PE Advisors.
54 Capital PE Advisors, which has been an investor in Turaco since 2015, has a strong portfolio of investments in Ethiopian FMCG companies. Its portfolio includes Gullele (detergents), into which it invested $8.7m in March 2020, having first invested in 2014. In Ethiopia it has also invested in Aquasafe bottled water, Etete Milk, Chef Luca Pasta and Addis Pharmaceutical.
The investment comes as the Ethiopian government continues to restrict access to fx, severely limiting the ability of companies to import goods into the country. Ethiopia’s relative stability, its high growth economy and strong population growth as well as long term potential as a regional manufacturing hub, have started to attract more investment from investors into FMCG.
In January 2020, PepsiCo, the global beverages and snacks company that owns Frito-Lay, acquired a majority stake in Ethiopian snacks company Senselet Food Processing. Senselet is the owner of local potato chips brand Sun Chips. In November 2019, Zoscales Partners invested in Ethiopian biscuit manufacturer Ahadukes Food Products. Both Heineken and Castel have also made significant investments in the beer sector in the past two years.
