37396 - Australis Partners Fund LP

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Summary of Investment Information

Project Number

37396

Company Name

AUSTRALIS PARTNERS FUND LP

Date SPI Disclosed

Oct 15, 2015

Country

Latin America and the Caribbean Region

Region

Latin America and the Caribbean

Projected Board Date

Dec 3, 2015

Environmental Category

FI-2 - Limited

Status

Active

Last Updated Date

Feb 21, 2024

Department

CDFPE - Disruptive Technologies and Funds/Private Equity Funds

Industry

Funds

Previous Events

Approved : Dec 3, 2015
Signed : Jan 21, 2016
Invested : Feb 4, 2016

Sector

Growth Equity Fund

Project Description

The project entails and IFC equity commitment of up to $40 million, not to exceed 20% of total commitments, in Australis Partners Fund LP (the “Fund”), a private equity fund to make control or significant minority investments in 7-10 middle-market companies in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

Sponsor / Cost / Location

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan
Equity	80.0

Development Impact

(i) Regional integration in the Pacific Alliance and LAC: The Fund will support businesses seeking to expand their operations and sales across the Pacific Alliance and neighboring countries. (ii) Job creation and economic growth: The Fund will invest in high-growth companies that are expected to create new employment opportunities at a higher and more sustainable rate than national averages, thereby contributing to economic development and employment. (iii) Growth and development of Latin American businesses: the Fund managers have consistently shown a strong ability to select companies with growth potential and apply operational, financial and ESG policies to achieve such growth.

(i) IFC stamp of approval: an IFC commitment to Australis will act as a signal to the investor community that, despite the slower growth outlook, Pacific Alliance countries remain attractive markets for commercial private equity investors. Also, by serving as an anchor investor with a new fund manager, IFC will help to build credibility and recognition for the Australis team and crowd-in additional investors. (ii) Fund structuring and E&S: IFC will help Australis adopt international best practices on fund structuring and legal terms. IFC's investment will also ensure adherence to best practices in environmental, social, and governance standards at the Fund and investee company level. (iii) Regional support: As the only prospective investor with multiple offices across the region, IFC can add value to the Fund through IFC's participation at the Advisory Committee and by helping to establish relationships across the region. In addition, IFC is able to provide additional equity and debt financing to the Fund's investee companies through co-investments.

E&S Category Rationale / Risks and Mitigation

The Fund will invest in companies in Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru. The pipeline includes potential deals related to light manufacturing, retail, agribusiness, food sector consolidation, education and infrastructure services (operational improvement). While the Fund could potentially invest in activities of high E&S risk, investees are expected to involve manufacturing processes, process improvements and market consolidation. Therefore, the E&S risks are considered to be medium, with limited adverse E&S risk and impacts, and this project has been classified as Category FI-2 according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedure.

In accordance with IFC's Access to Information Policy, IFC will periodically disclose the names, locations and sectors of sub-projects that have been supported by IFC investments through private equity funds, subject to regulatory constraints and market sensitivities. The sub-project(s) listed below reflect(s) the status of the portfolio as of January 1, 2025.

Investee	Country Of Investment	Sector
Grupo Disal	Chile	C-DA - Waste Collection Treatment and Management
_Alianza	Colombia	O-FA- Other Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFI)
Galenica	Chile	S-AB- Medical and Diagnostic Services
Reve Group and Gastroinnova	Panama	Q-BA- Grocery Retail (Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Convenience Stores etc.)
Sekura	Mexico	O-JB- General Insurance (Non-Life)
vitalmex	Mexico	S-AB- Medical and Diagnostic Services

As a Private Equity Fund, the main risks are associated with the Fund’s investments. The Fund will target the following sectors: consumer (e.g. retail, finance, healthcare and education), food/protein (e.g. fishing, other food producers), and infrastructure services (e.g. logistics, waste management, telecom, and water). Potential environmental and social risks and impacts derive from the Fund´s capacity to identify and manage the environmental and social risks associated with investment activities. Potential risks associated with investments are principally related to the (i) management of waste/wastewater/air emissions as well as occupational health and safety of employees, where investee activities involve manufacturing processes; (ii) agribusiness risks related to labor practices, biodiversity impacts, agrochemical management, occupational health and safety of workers and resource management & pollution prevention; (iii) infrastructure services risks, that will also include labor management, Occupational Health and Safety issues as well as resource management & pollution prevention. In general, special care will need to be taken to make sure that community health and safety risks are considered. Australis Partners LP, has adopted in March 2015 an Environment and Social Governance Policy. As part of the IFC investment, the Fund will: (i) Enhance and formalize its E&S Policy into an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) (ii) Appoint an E&S officer and install capacity to review all investee companies per the E&S laws and regulations of the target country and the IFC Performance Standards. The ESMS and E&S officer need to be in place by commitment; (iii) Adopt an external grievance mechanism and support a grievance channel in order to receive complaints and suggestions from project stakeholders (iv) conduct an E&S due diligence (ESDD) to identify the applicable E&S risks of each investee company and require corrective actions as needed to ensure that these risks are managed according to the IFC Performance Standards and applicable local national laws; (v) implement a monitoring framework to supervise the E&S risks of all investee companies and report to IFC. (vi) In addition, IFC will review the ESDD of all category A projects, if any, and the first three ESDDs. All investments will require an ESDD considering the exclusion list, the local E&S laws, and the Performance Standards.

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IFC supports its clients in addressing environmental and social issues arising from their business activities by requiring its real sector clients to set up and administer appropriate grievance mechanisms and/or procedures to address complaints from Affected Communities in relation to environmental and social issues arising from IFC's clients' business activities. Since 2012, IFC's Financial Intermediary clients applying the Performance Standards are required to develop External Communications Mechanisms to receive and review inquiries or complaints from any interested party regarding the E&S risks and impacts of their operations.

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Complaints can be submitted to IFC online at www.ifc.org/escomplaints or by email to EScomplaints@ifc.org.

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This Summary of Investment Information (SII) is prepared by IFC to disclose a factual summary of the main elements of the potential investment. It also includes findings and recommendations related to environmental and social considerations regarding this potential investment. The purpose of the SII is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities. For any project documentation or data included or attached herein, whether prepared by the project sponsor or otherwise, authorization has been given for public release by the project sponsor. IFC considers that this SII is of adequate quality for release to the public, but has not necessarily independently verified all of the project information therein. It is distributed in advance of IFC Board of Directors’ consideration and may be periodically updated thereafter. Board dates are estimates only and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board Directors’ decision. The following SII is disclosed in accordance with IFC's Access to Information Policy (AIP) that went into effect on January 1, 2012.

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