Savanna Beef secures N$150m loan for abattoir construction

Savanna Beef secured a N$150 million loan this month to finance the construction of a state-of-the-art export abattoir.

The development comes after a collaborative effort spearheaded by the Beef Value Chain Forum (BVCF) and facilitated by Cirrus Capital.

According to Cirrus, during this period, technical and engineering teams had been planning the abattoir’s infrastructure, including securing a construction contractor, addressing specific construction needs such as water treatment and refrigeration and ensuring a reliable electricity supply.

With the loan agreement in place, construction of the abattoir is now officially underway.

Additionally, Savanna Beef also secured an additional N$80 million in equity capital from two separate private investor groups during the same period.

At initiation, Savanna Beef raised N$193 million in equity capital through three private placements which came from Namibian cattle producers

Cirrus, along with the BVCF, engaged farmers and secured their participation through investment opportunities that offered both shares and slaughtering rights.

“During this stage, Cirrus travelled across Namibia with BVCF task team members to engage all farmers and invite their participation in providing funding in exchange for shares and the slaughtering rights attached to those shares,” Cirrus said.

Savanna anticipates its proposed facility to have the capacity to retain an additional 50 000 weaners for slaughter cattle production through a positive weaner-to-slaughter cattle price ratio.

The construction of the facility is expected to create additional market pressure for the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco), which said it had rejected a proposal by Savanna Beef Processors to use its abattoirs for slaughtering and processing of beef for export to international markets.

Namibia currently has eight well-regulated and efficient export abattoirs dominating the industry, processing a variety of livestock, including cattle, sheep, pigs, ostriches and chickens.

Besides the traditional market of the European Union, Sweden and Norway, Namibia now exports beef to the United States and China.

– The Brief