An impact investment fund that’s raised more than $22 million in an effort to improve financing and sustainability for coastal fisheries in Indonesia and the Philippines is pushing ahead to build up its portfolio despite complications imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US-based Meloy Fund announced its third deal to date on April 1, a debt investment in yellowfin tuna processor PT. Sig Asia, which exports fresh and frozen product to the US, China, Japan, Russia and other markets from its facility on the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
The terms of the investment were not disclosed, but Dale Galvin, the fund’s managing director told Undercurrent News that the investment was the fund’s largest since it was established in 2017.
PT. Sig employs over 200 workers directly and was established in 2008.
“We saw a lot of companies, we really like this one,” Galvin said. “And we really to hitch our wagons to companies that we think are going to be the market leaders and have an opportunity to really grow and demonstrate this sustainable approach to dealing with their natural resources.”
The company will use the funds from Meloy to “access new markets, streamline its operations, upgrade its processing facility, and establish a best-in-class seafood traceability system”, the fund said in a press release.
Galvin said that the financing, as well as technical support from Rare, a non-profit that created the Meloy Fund, will help PT Sig advance goals within a framework known as ESG — environmental, social, governance goals — in addition to “creating value” for the company.
This could include the adoption of responsible sourcing fishing policies that come with gear limits and size limits, things that sustainably-minded buyers look for.
Where are you going to fish? How are you going to ensure that the quality is there, the traceability is there? Doing that opens up new markets for them, Galvin said.
It also means working with the fishers that source its product to ensure there’s “transparent, fair pricing” and collecting data, often for the first time, about where the fish are landed, he added.
Knowing the state of the fishery, “that’s problem number one and then the management and changes that are needed to ensure maximum sustainable yield is achieved, Galvin said.
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