Multinational - Meridian Consolidated Investments Limited

The proposed Soft Commodity Finance Facility (SCFF) of USD 20 million to Meridian group is to finance Meridian’s commodity exports such as maize, groundnuts, pigeon peas, soya, sesame and beans. Established in 1970 to assist the small scale farmer, Meridian group is one of the largest commodity aggregators in Southern Africa. The group plays a significant role in the promotion of agribusiness in five Southern Africa countries and its operations are in line with almost all of the Bank’s “high fives”. The proposed SCFF represents an opportunity to support a well-established and professionally run commodities company in Southern Africa. This will provide Meridian with affordable short/medium term financing required to unlock growth. Meridian will use the funds to purchase the soft commodities directly from small scale farmers in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. This SCFF will not only provide inexpensive funding to Meridian but also provide FX liquidity support to the same markets. The SCFF also provides the Bank with an opportunity to indirectly intervene in two low income countries and a fragile state, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe respectively. Furthermore, it provides the Bank with an opportunity to intervene in a sector characterized by extremely low investments due to perceived risk.