FSL Assets Strategises to Bridge Funding Gap in Agrobusiness

FSL Asset Management, a prominent financial firm in Nigeria, has unveiled a plan to address the significant funding gap confronting agribusinesses nationwide. The company, operating as an open-ended unit trust scheme, intends to leverage securitized agricultural contracts, commercial papers issued by leading agri-firms, and exchange-traded commodities available on regulated platforms like the AFEX Commodities Exchange and the Lagos Commodities Exchange.

During an interactive media briefing at the company's headquarters in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Adetola Odukoya, and other key executives shared the details of this strategy. The focus of the initiative is twofold: to offer more affordable, adaptable capital for agricultural production and processing, and to safeguard individual investors from unregulated, high-risk commodity schemes that have been on the rise.

Odukoya emphasized that agriculture contributes significantly to Nigeria's GDP, accounting for approximately 25 to 30 percent, yet it continues to grapple with substantial capital constraints. By launching this commodities fund, FSL Asset Management aims to create a transparent, SEC-regulated avenue that enables investors to generate competitive real returns from high-growth agricultural assets, while simultaneously providing essential, lower-cost financing to legitimate operators throughout the agricultural value chain.

The FSL Asset Management has also recently introduced the FSL Balanced Fund, a N2bn open-ended scheme designed to achieve moderate capital growth through a diversified portfolio of equities, fixed income, and money market instruments. Investors can subscribe to this fund with a minimum of 100,000 units (N100,000), and the holdings can be maintained for a period of 90 days.