August 17, 2016

International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, is committing $30 million to Hosen Capital’s third investment fund, Hosen Investment Fund III.

The investment will not exceed 20% of the fund, which has a target corpus of $400 million and will focus on investments in mainly rural businesses in the agriculture and food sectors, specifically in businesses connected to meeting demand on the Chinese market and supporting Chinese consumption.

Headquartered in Beijing, and with additional offices in Chengdu, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, Hosen Capital has been spun out of New Hope Capital, the financial management arm of New Hope Group.

Incorporated in the Cayman Islands as a limited partnership, Hosen Investment Fund III is led by former New Hope Capital team members, Chris Wang and Alex Zhang.

Started in 1997 as a chicken farm by its chairman, Liu Yonghao, New Hope has become one of China’s top animal feed producers, with annual property and business sales reaching US$13.83 billion. Currently, New Hope Group has a presence in countries including Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia, however, Liu told Reuters on the sidelines of the China’s annual parliament meeting that the group is accelerating its fundraising efforts to support overseas acquisitions and expansion in an effort to evolve beyond an animal feed company.

In February of this year the group launched a 3 billion yuan (US$460 million) fund with the Harvest Fund and the Zhejiang provincial government for the purpose of funding these acquisitions, to which Hosen Capital committed $450 million as a second, diversified funding source.