About

AFGRI Group is an investment holding company that operates in the food, agriculture and financial services industry, with an interest in companies providing sustainable agriculture, food security and financial management. Based in South Africa, AFGRI operates in 11 African countries and Western Australia with a long history in the grain value chain industry. AFGRI invests in sustainable farming techniques, grain value, storage and post-harvest solutions, financial products for farmers, industrial foods processing, commodity marketing and collateral management. The in-house legal team works across all 11 jurisdictions. Led by Pieter Badenhorst, group legal director and general counsel, it is well known in the industry for its diligent management and legal acumen in pursuit of partnerships and new investments. Each legal counsel in the team is dedicated to specific business units: Robyn van Heerden is in charge of the foods business (Philafrica Foods) and is assisted by Berenice van den Berg; Botha Ernst is in charge of the agricultural business (AFGRI Operations); and Janneke Wessels is in charge of the financial services and shared services business units (GroCapital Advisory Services and AFGRI Management Services.) Each legal counsel has a dual reporting line to the head of the business unit and to the general counsel and is responsible for the corporate governance, ethics and IP for each business unit including attending relevant board meetings. In the last year the team worked on a number of interesting transactions including a R1bn capital raise for Philafrica Foods, which involved the department drafting the circular to shareholders, convertible loan agreements, subscription agreements, shareholders agreement and resolutions completely in-house. It also managed an extensive due diligence process by the shareholders. Badenhorst highlights that, ‘it was the first time that a capital raise of this nature was done by the Team. The shareholders entrusted the team with the drafting of the agreements and with that comes a great responsibility. Negotiating with various shareholders, in different jurisdictions, with diverse governance requirements and approval processes, proved particularly challenging’. Similarly the team worked on R3.5bn in M&A transactions and resolved an urgent dilemma potentially costing the company millions in production costs by fending off potential power cuts resulting from a dispute between a power company and local councils. Additionally the legal team developed a joint development agreement platform to assist small businesses in the agricultural industry, a local industry first, and required significant ingenuity and study of international precedent.