Fundraising

RDIF, China’s Inventis launch $500m investment platform

Agriculture, food and retail will be top priorities for the Sino-Russian vehicle, which will also target mining and infrastructure investments.

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The Russian Direct Investment Fund will establish an agriculture, food and infrastructure investment platform with Shanghai-based Inventis Investment Holdings, one of China’s oldest and largest private equity investment firms.

RDIF and Inventis, which manages $6.2 billion in assets, will look to generate returns by focusing on growing trade between Russia and China. They will co-invest up to $500 million in food, agriculture, consumer and retail businesses, with transport, mining and infrastructure opportunities also being targeted, according to an RDIF press release.

“Together we can successfully contribute to unlocking the investment potential of Sino-Russian cooperation in the most dynamically growing sectors of the Russian economy,” said RDIF chief executive Kirill Dmitriev.

The $10 billion RDIF fund claims to have attracted more than $25 billion of foreign capital into the Russian economy through long-term “strategic” tie-ups. Institutions that have partnered with the vehicle include China Investment Corporation, the Korea Investment Corporation, two Saudi sovereign funds, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Fondo Strategico Italiano and India’s Tata Power. 

In June, RDIF teamed up with Italy’s Pizzarotti Group to design, build and operate a healthcare project in Russia’s second-largest city.

That came after the fund announced its first joint deal with CDC International Capital, a subsidiary of France’s Caisse des Dépôts. The two institutions have agreed to inject up to €250 million in Arc, a maker of tableware based in northern France that is billed by its new shareholders as the world’s largest.

Inventis set up its first private equity fund targeting China in 2001 and has since made more than 50 investments in the country. Although it is sector agnostic, agriculture is one of its eight specialist investment areas, according to its website. The growth-focused firm would typically invest $50 million for a minority stake with a five-year investment period, according to the site.