Junior–Mid Level Agriculture Investment & Credit Analyst – Cape Town
Role is Cape Town Based
Agrarius, a pioneering JSE-listed sustainability-linked debt issuer within South Africa’s agricultural sector and managed by 27four Investment Managers, is evolving into a multi-strategy agriculture platform spanning credit, equity, farmland and real assets.
The successful candidate will support deal assessment, portfolio monitoring and research across these strategies, helping price and harvest agriculture risk premia while maintaining robust credit and investment risk management.
Key Responsibilities
Credit & Investment Analysis
- Assist in in-depth credit reviews of potential borrowers and projects across the agriculture value chain, including farming, inputs, infrastructure, processing and logistics.
- Contribute to investment analysis for equity, farmland and real asset opportunities, focusing on business models, cash-flow resilience, capital structures and alignment with the platform’s structural agriculture thesis.
- Evaluate transaction structures within the asset-backed note programme and adjacent vehicles, including collateral coverage, covenant design and risk–return trade-offs.
Data, Modelling & Risk Tools
- Build and maintain financial models for credit, equity, farmland and real asset transactions, consistent with biological production cycles rather than calendar-quarter assumptions.
- Help refine internal risk-pricing tools that capture agriculture’s distinctive return profile using project‑level and portfolio‑level data.
- Support scenario and sensitivity analysis around yield volatility, timing delays, pricing shocks and climate‑related production risks.
Deal Support & Execution
- Collaborate with senior analysts on structuring term sheets and Shari’ah-compliant instruments aligned with sustainability and platform objectives.
- Assist with documentation across credit and investment vehicles, including loan agreements, shareholder agreements, land and infrastructure transaction packs and compliance checklists.
- Coordinate data rooms, due-diligence workflows and information requests with legal, origination, operations and external parties.
Platform‑Wide Portfolio Monitoring
- Monitor credit and investment exposures across on‑farm, inputs, infrastructure, processing/export and agri‑tech, updating financial and operational KPIs.
- Track covenant compliance, sustainability metrics and biological production milestones (planting, harvest, throughput) for debt and real‑asset vehicles.
- Support monitoring of equity and farmland positions, including operating performance, governance actions, land productivity, water security and capex execution.
Performance & Reporting
- Prepare draft credit and investment reports, transaction memos and periodic portfolio updates for investment and credit committees.
- Contribute to performance analysis versus benchmark asset classes, highlighting yield, growth, scarcity and real‑asset cash‑flow drivers across the platform.
- Summarise structural agriculture and sustainability insights and link these to transaction‑level risk premia and returns.
Market, Sector & Strategy Research
- Conduct macro, sector‑specific and regulatory research on agriculture lending, sustainability‑linked instruments and Shari’ah‑compliant structures.
- Research themes relevant to the platform’s strategies: scalable agri‑business equity, strategic farmland, and real assets such as cold chain, irrigation and renewable power.
- Track developments in precision agriculture, biotech, robotics, data and AI that influence risk, productivity and capital needs across the agriculture system.
Stakeholder & Platform Coordination
- Liaise with internal stakeholders (origination, legal, operations, risk, distribution) to align transaction pipelines with platform capacity and risk appetite.
- Engage with borrowers, operators, off‑takers, auditors, valuers and independent reviewers to support due diligence and ongoing monitoring.
- Help articulate the agriculture platform thesis to internal and external stakeholders through clear written material and presentations.
Core Competencies
- Strong analytical mindset with the ability to interpret financial statements, cash‑flow profiles and biological production metrics in agriculture.
- Eagerness to deepen skills in project finance, agriculture credit, equity valuation, farmland economics and real‑asset underwriting.
- High attention to detail and accuracy in modelling and reporting across multiple strategies and vehicles.
- Clear written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate complex agriculture and sustainability concepts for committee audiences.
- Team player, comfortable working in a platform environment that spans credit, equity, land and infrastructure.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Agriculture, Engineering or a related field (Honours preferred).
- 1–3 years’ experience in credit analysis, corporate or project finance, investment research, or related financial services; exposure to agriculture, infrastructure or sustainability‑linked instruments advantageous.
- Strong financial modelling skills in Excel; experience with cash‑flow models, scenario analysis and basic valuation methods beneficial.
Success Criteria
- Timely, accurate analytical work that supports disciplined credit and investment decisions across all strategies.
- Effective contribution to transaction structuring, documentation and execution for debt, equity, farmland and real‑asset deals.
- Active participation in portfolio monitoring and performance analysis, demonstrating growing insight into agriculture risk premia and biological production cycles.
- Evidence of professional growth into a platform‑oriented agriculture investment analyst, aligned with the team’s structural agriculture and impact goals.
Why Join
Join a forward‑thinking team building a complete agriculture allocation: credit for yield, equity for growth, farmland for scarcity and real assets for resilient cash flow. You will gain exposure to climate‑smart agriculture, food security and infrastructure while learning how to price and harvest mispriced agriculture risk within an institutional, sustainability‑linked platform.
