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*responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Investment fund associated with particular risk. Exclusion of liability outside Switzerland: for qualified and professional investors only FAIR AGRICULTURE Summary Market Review Strong cocoa season in Africa – global coffee consumption continues to increase – agricultural value chains modernising Fund Activity High demand for coffee and cashew financings – various dates, nuts and pulses producers financed Fund Performance Provisions impacted performance - average weighted interest rate stable above 8.5% - share of investments with floating interest rates increased to USD 30 million Key Figures 197'080'058 0.42 -0.21 824'764 Net performance 3Q (Class B, USD, %) Net performance 12 months (Class B, USD, %) Number of farmers of fair agriculture organisations Fund volume (USD) Outlook Strong cocoa season in West Africa - investments in Central America due to coffee season – cashew, cocoa, soy and rice seasons across Southeast Asia Focus Exploring new horizons: in-depth analysis and new directions for agricultural investments – Interview with the Agriculture Business Line Leaders
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FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

Mar 17, 2020

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Page 1: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

*responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Investment fund associated with particular risk. Exclusion of liability outside Switzerland: for qualified and professional investors only

FAIR AGRICULTURE

Summary

Market Review Strong cocoa season in Africa – global coffee consumption continues to increase – agricultural value chains modernising

Fund Activity High demand for coffee and cashew financings – various dates, nuts and pulses producers financed

Fund Performance Provisions impacted performance - average weighted interest rate stable above 8.5% - share of investments with floating interest rates increased to USD 30 million

Key Figures

197'080'0580.42

-0.21824'764

Net performance 3Q (Class B, USD, %)Net performance 12 months (Class B, USD, %)Number of farmers of fair agriculture organisations

Fund volume (USD)

Outlook Strong cocoa season in West Africa - investments in Central America due to coffee season – cashew, cocoa, soy and rice seasons across Southeast Asia

Focus Exploring new horizons: in-depth analysis and new directions for agricultural investments – Interview with the Agriculture Business Line Leaders

Page 2: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

*responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Investment fund associated with particular risk. Exclusion of liability outside Switzerland: for qualified and professional investors only

Market Review Strong cocoa season in Africa – global coffee consumption continues to increase – agricultural value chains modernising Growing demand for food and the need for traceability as well as better food safety and quality are driving the modernisation and integration of agricultural value chains, according to a re-cent survey by responsAbility and the ‘State of Food and Agri-culture’ report just released by the Food and Agriculture Or-ganization of the United Nations (FAO). Over the past three decades, the processing, packaging, trad-ing and distribution of agri-food products in emerging markets has become increasingly industrialised and efficient. Medium-size companies have emerged and have strengthened their links to producers and end consumers. Food industries ac-count for more than 50% of total manufacturing value added in low-income countries, and 30% in middle-income coun-tries. In emerging markets, rising demand for food, including high-value processed food, is creating opportunities for producers and agribusiness. Small and medium-scale off-farm enter-prises linked to rapidly expanding supply chains and diversify-ing economies are springing up in rural areas. Fragmented pro-cessing and trading is giving way to the agglomeration of pro-cessing, logistics, wholesaling and retailing as well as longer value chains. These developments are creating new non-farm employment opportunities, particularly in labour-intensive food processing, as well as financing opportunities.

The third quarter marked the end of an exceptional cocoa sea-son, with global output rising by 12% due to good weather conditions. Ivory Coast produced 2 million tonnes of cocoa beans, an increase of 26% compared to last year. Ghana and Nigeria produced 1 million and 270,000 tonnes, respectively. Consequently, prices have remained quite low since late 2016 when they dropped by almost 30%. As a result, cooperatives and processors have needed limited liquidity to buy crop from farmers, which has been reflected in only moderate demand for financing. This year, coffee production has fallen by 1.6% due to adverse weather related to El Niño in Asia. However, the Peruvian har-vest reached 322,000 tonnes, an increase of almost 40% compared to last year, which led to strong demand for financ-ing in South America during the third quarter. Global coffee consumption expanded by 2% and consumption growth will be strongest in Asia, notably China. Demand for dried fruits is increasing in emerging markets, par-ticularly in Asia and Latin America. The harvest has been quite good this year: while dried fig production declined slightly in the third quarter, dried apricot production increased by 12%, and the sultanas and raisins harvest was also good. This led to increased demand for financing during the third quarter.

Fund Activity High demand for coffee and cashew financings – various dates, nuts and pulses producers financed

The Fund disbursed USD 59 million during the third quarter of the year, 9% more than in the previous quarter and 11% less than during the same quarter a year ago.

At 36% compared to 39% in the previous quarter, the coffee share of total disbursements remained high. Overall coffee dis-bursements exceeded USD 20 million. Thanks to a strong cof-fee season in Peru and Colombia, South America accounted for USD 10 million, followed by Southeast Asia with USD 7 million and East Africa with almost USD 4 million.

With a share of 11% of total disbursements, cashews were the second biggest commodity of the last quarter. The Fund dis-bursed USD 7 million, mainly in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The investment in Sub-Saharan Africa was placed through a company specialising in developing African businesses by providing technical support, financing and international mar-keting. Furthermore, a total of USD 24.9 million was dis-bursed to an investee’s subsidiary which is located in the United Arab Emirates and funds the organisation’s business activities. This investee is a two-directional supply chain man-ager focused on connecting the Sub-Saharan Africa region with the rest of the world. It engages in the processing and trading of a wide range of agricultural commodities, including maize, coffee, cashew nuts and various types of oilseeds. On a regional level, 27% of investments were placed in Asia with disbursements in seven different countries and four com-modities. Furthermore, the Fund financed a financial institu-tion specialised in SMEs along the agricultural value chain in Central Asia.

The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. The range of funded commodities is large and includes dates, pulses, rasp-berries, spices, coffee and cashews.

Demand for coffee and cotton financing was strong in Sub-Sa-haran Africa, particularly in East Africa. In Ivory Coast, the Fund made a first disbursement to a cocoa cooperative to fi-nance the start of a strong cocoa season.

In the Middle East and North Africa, deals for dates as well as groundnuts and pulses from Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates were financed.

In total, the Fund invested in 15 different commodities in 24 countries.

Page 3: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 3

Fund Performance Provisions impacted performance - average weighted interest rate stable above 8.5% - share of investments with floating in-terest rates increased to USD 30 million

The Fund volume decreased by 6% in the third quarter and stood at USD 197 million at the end of September. Liquidity increased slightly from 10.6% to 11.6% of the Fund’s NAV.

The Fund generated a quarterly return of 0.42% (B3-class in USD) that was lower than the quarterly average since incep-tion.

Provisions had a negative performance impact of 0.63% in the quarter under review. An investee in Southeast Asia had diffi-culties selling its coffee harvest as the low coffee prices of pre-vious quarters resulted in a liquidity crunch. Furthermore, a sesame processor in South America suffered harvest losses and was not able to repay outstanding debt. Provisions on a quinoa producer in Peru were increased, and a small provision had to be made for a cotton seed producer in Sub-Saharan Af-rica. A restructuring agreement for an investment in Sub-Sa-haran Africa led to a release of provisions.

Mark-to-market valuations of currency hedges had a positive performance impact.

The average weighted interest rate of the invested portfolio was stable above 8.5% and is expected to remain unchanged dur-ing the last quarter of the year.

New investments were placed with slightly better conditions as the increase of USD interest rates was already reflected in the transaction prices of certain deals.

Furthermore, investments with floating interest rates increased from USD 26 million to USD 30 million.

The Fund is currently invested in 46 countries, 120 counter-parties and 53 commodities.

Page 4: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

*responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Investment fund associated with particular risk. Exclusion of liability outside Switzerland: for qualified and professional investors only

Key Figures as of 3Q 2017

Fund data/Net performance(1) Class B (USD)

Class B (CHF)

Class B (EUR)

Class B1V

(CHF)

Class B2V

(EUR)

Class B3V

(USD)

Class I (CHF)

Class I (EUR)

Class I (USD)

Quarterly return (%) 0.42 -0.25 -0.23 -0.17 -0.14 0.51 -0.10 -0.09 0.57 Return YTD 2017 (%) 0.26 -1.34 -1.00 -1.09 -0.74 0.51 -0.90 -0.59 0.70 Since inception (%) 13.48 7.25 9.58 1.43 -1.54 0.75 10.92 3.19 2.31 ø Return (p.a.) since inception (%) 2.29 1.22 1.60 0.45 -0.97 0.47 1.82 1.05 1.20 1 year -0.21 -2.25 -1.83 -1.94 -1.47 0.13 -1.68 -1.27 0.39 3 years 4.60 -0.30 1.33 0.85 n/a n/a 1.50 3.19 n/a 5 years 11.50 5.54 7.78 n/a n/a n/a 8.89 n/a n/a Strongest month since inception (%) 0.58 0.55 0.60 0.52 0.22 0.33 0.62 0.57 0.36 Weakest month since inception (%) -0.47 -0.66 -0.62 -0.65 -0.59 -0.45 -0.62 -0.56 -0.41 No. of months with positive performance 57 51 54 25 7 11 53 25 15 No. of months with negative performance 10 17 15 13 12 8 15 11 8 Fonds volume (USD) 197'080'058 Return volatility (USD, %)(2) 0.66

Sharpe ratio (USD)(3) 2.40 (1) Return figures and total return are calculated under the assumption that the Swiss federal withholding tax delivered is immediately reinvested in the collective investment scheme without deduc-tions. Past performance is not a guarantee or indicator of current or future performance. This performance data is calculated net of all fees and commissions but it does not take into account the commissions and costs incurred on the issue and redemption of units.; (2) Annualized since inception USD B-class; (3) calculated by taking into account the annualized monthly return volatility since inception and the average 6mth LIBOR USD rate (risk free)

Selected assets correlation (2011–2017) MSCI World Index 6mths USD Libor JP Morgan Emerging Corporate Bond Index (USD)

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund (USD) 0.0535 -0.5710 0.0800

Largest country exposure in % NAV Geographical allocation in % of investments Peru 14.2 Asia Pacific 28.6 India 9.7 South America 23.9 Cambodia 7.9 Sub-Saharan Africa 15.8 United Arab Emirates 5.1 Other 14.6 Colombia 3.9 Middle East & North Africa 6.2 Egypt 3.9 Central Asia 5.0 Rwanda 3.8 Central America 4.7 Cote d'Ivoire 3.6 Eastern Europe 1.3 Uganda 3.6 Nicaragua 3.2 Number of countries 46 Commodity allocation(4) in % of investments Asset allocation in % NAV Coffee 23.3 Fixed income 88.4 Fresh Fruits and Vegetables 17.9 Cash(5) 11.6 Nuts 9.9

(5) Cash: Cash current accounts and money market 9.9%

Grains 8.4 Cash equivalent: Value of hedging contracts, collateral cash, accrued interest investments, other assets and liabilities

1.7%

Dried Fruit 6.2 Oilseeds 5.5 Cocoa 4.8 Edible Oils 3.5 Sugar 3.0 Spices 2.8 (4) excluding investments in financial intermediaries Social performance indicators 3Q 2017 3Q 2016 Number of fair agriculture organisations 120 119 Number of farmers of fair agriculture organisa-tions 824'764 980'078

Page 5: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 5

Development of Portfolio Development of total return and fund volume(1)

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

-

50

100

150

200

250

Sep

-17

Jul-1

7M

ay-1

7M

ar-1

7Ja

n-17

Nov

-16

Sep

-16

Jul-1

6M

ay-1

6M

ar-1

6Ja

n-16

Nov

-15

Sep

-15

Jul-1

5M

ay-1

5M

ar-1

5Ja

n-15

Nov

-14

Sep

-14

Jul-1

4M

ay-1

4M

ar-1

4Ja

n-14

Nov

-13

Sep

-13

Jul-1

3M

ay-1

3M

ar-1

3Ja

n-13

Nov

-12

Sep

-12

Jul-1

2M

ay-1

2M

ar-1

2Ja

n-12

Nov

-11

Tota

l per

form

ance

Volu

me

in m

io. U

SD

Fund Volume Total return USD (B-Class) Total return CHF (B-Class)Total return EUR (B-Class) Total return CHF (I-Class)

(1) Return figures and total return are calculated under the assumption that the Swiss federal withholding tax delivered is immediately reinvested in the collective investment scheme without deductions. Past performance is not a guarantee or indicator of current or future performance. This performance data is calculated net of all fees and commissions but it does not take into account the commissions and costs incurred on the issue and redemption of units.

Maturity breakdown as of 3Q 2017

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

< 6 months 6-12 months 12-18 months 24-30 months18-24 months 30-36 months 36-60 months > 60 months

Average time to maturity: 18.3 months

Page 6: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 6

Development country allocation

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

3Q 2016 3Q 2017

Development geographical allocation

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Mrz

12

Jun

12S

ep 1

2D

ez 1

2M

rz 1

3Ju

n 13

Sep

13

Dez

13

Mrz

14

Jun

14S

ep 1

4D

ez 1

4M

rz 1

5Ju

n 15

Sep

15

Dez

15

Mrz

16

Jun

16S

ep 1

6D

ez 1

6M

rz 1

7Ju

n 17

Sep

17

Asien Pazifik Zentralamerika

Zentralasien Osteuropa

Mittl. Osten, Nordafrika Andere

Südamerika Sub-Sahara Afrika

Development commodity allocation1)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Dec

-15

Jan-

16Fe

b-16

Mar

-16

Apr

-16

May

-16

Jun-

16

Jul-1

6A

ug-1

6S

ep-1

6O

ct-1

6N

ov-1

6D

ec-1

6Ja

n-17

Feb-

17M

ar-1

7A

pr-1

7M

ay-1

7Ju

n-1

7Ju

l-17

Aug

-17

Sep

-17

Coffee Cocoa Fruit & Vegetables

Grains & Seeds Herbs, Spices & Oils Nuts

Other

Development asset allocation

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Mar

-12

Jun-

12

Sep

-12

Dec

-12

Mar

-13

Jun-

13

Sep

-13

Dec

-13

Mar

-14

Jun-

14

Sep

-14

Dec

-14

Mar

-15

Jun-

15

Sep

-15

Dec

-15

Mar

-16

Jun-

16

Sep

-16

Dec

-16

Mar

-17

Jun-

17

Sep

-17

Fixed Income Cash & cash equivalent²

(1) excluding investments in financial intermediaries

(2) Cash: Cash current accounts and money market 9.9%

Cash equivalent: Value of hedging contracts, collateral cash, accrued interest investments, other assets and liabilities

1.7%

Further portfolio data will be sent to interested investors on request. Please e-mail [email protected] with your name and the name of the fund you are interested in.

Page 7: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 7

Outlook Strong cocoa season in West Africa - investments in Central America due to coffee season – cashew, cocoa, soy and rice seasons across Southeast Asia

The Fund has a strong investment pipeline as several upcom-ing harvest seasons are resulting in high financing demand. As a result, liquidity levels are projected to decrease further. The weighted average interest rate on the invested portfolio is ex-pected to remain stable at around 8.5%.

The main cocoa season in West Africa got off to a good start in September and will last until the end of the year, with dis-bursements planned to existing and new counterparties. As the risk-return patterns of the West African cocoa season have tra-ditionally been attractive, short-term cocoa exposures are ex-pected to account for a considerable share of financing.

Our investments in Ivory Coast are not affected by sudden changes in global cocoa prices as prices are set by the national Coffee and Cocoa Council before the start of the season. Fur-thermore, a few days ago, Ivory Coast and Ghana disclosed plans to create a buffer stock aimed at price regulation. This buffer stock may only impact prices in three to four years’ time once the necessary administration infrastructure has been set up. The African Development Bank has already agreed to help establish a Cocoa Market Stabilisation Fund, a Cocoa Ex-change Commission to manage production, and a Cocoa Indus-trialisation Fund to develop the regional cocoa industry. The Fund’s regional exposure is expected to see a major shift from South America to Central America with the start of the coffee season in Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua. As this region is increasingly well funded, prices came under some pressure in the third quarter. However, thanks to long-standing relationships with many coffee cooperatives, demand for fi-nancing from our Fund is likely to persist with prices expected to remain stable.

In addition to financings for the Central American coffee sea-son, investments in the Asia-Pacific region will be needed for projected strong cashew, cocoa, soy and rice seasons across Southeast Asia. Thanks to a strong regional network built over several years, the pipeline includes actors along the agricul-tural value chain and across various commodities that offer in-teresting risk/return potential.

We are closely monitoring the development of La Niña as the likelihood of a weak La Niña by late autumn or winter is put at 60%. The counterpart of El Niño, La Niña is an ocean-atmos-phere phenomenon that lowers the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean by 3-5°C. La Niña affects harvests and commodity prices - although less so than El Niño. Its impacts differ depending on whether it materialises in summer or winter. It can lead to slightly higher cashew production in West Africa, higher Arabica prices and lower Robusta prices. Global cocoa production, in turn, tends to increase.

Page 8: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 8

Focus Exploring new horizons: in-depth analysis and new directions for agricultural investments – Interview with the Agriculture Business Line Leaders Gaëlle Bonnieux Business Line Leader Agri-culture Debt Financing Gaëlle joined responsAbility in 2009. She has more than 10 years' experience in de-velopment finance and agri-culture in emerging coun-tries in Latin America, Af-rica and Asia. She also has field experience in more than 20 countries and 10 commodities.

Anand Chandani Business Line Leader Agri-culture Debt Financing Anand has been with re-sponsAbility since the end of 2010. He has more than 22 years of operational, en-trepreneurial and financial experience. He started his career in management con-sulting and project finance, later holding leadership po-sitions in the areas of corpo-rate development, product management and private in-vestments (debt and equity).

How has agriculture debt financing evolved within responsAbility?

Gaëlle Bonnieux:

Since its inception in 2012, the responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund has been both a pioneer and market leader in the field of sustainable agriculture financing. In the last five years, the fund has issued nearly USD 1 billion in loans to agricultural value chain actors (AVCAs) across Asia, the Middle East, Af-rica, Eastern Europe and Latin America. In 2016 alone, inves-tees of the Fund reached 291,000 smallholder suppliers in 50 countries. Initially, the Fund’s portfolio was dominated by short-term fi-nancing to coffee and cocoa producers, mostly in Latin Amer-ica. In order to complement the seasonality of this weighting and to diversify the portfolio, greater emphasis was placed on originating deals that involved other crops, in value chains linked to nuts (mostly cashews), staple crops (e.g. rice), as

well as grains and seeds (sesame, quinoa, chia and amaranth). This was done primarily with exporters that could achieve a certain volume and positive impact. Several of these commodi-ties had experienced a sharp rise in demand in the first half of the decade, led by increasing consumer interest in products that were both new to Western markets and healthy. The past two years represented a challenging period for much of the agriculture industry, with low and volatile commodity prices. Could you give us some insight into the effects that this has had on our portfolio?

Anand Chandani:

The Fund was able to show stable yields and strong growth in its first four years after inception. However, a rise in provisions over the last 18 months has dampened the strong returns pro-vided to investors. This increase, from an extremely low aver-age in the first four years of the Fund, stems from a proportion of the portfolio that was disbursed over the period 2014-15. After 2015, some crops underwent a sharp price correction. Volatility in crop prices is not unusual, and responsAbility in-vestees are typically well placed to manage price risk. How-ever, some of the value chains for these crops were less organ-ised and formalised than the more “mainstream,” established commodities in our portfolio. For some crops, the track record for the entire exporter model was quite new and untested. A small number of our investee AVCAs came directly under pres-sure due to price volatility; elsewhere the price correction ex-posed weak linkages in value chains (notably between produc-ers and buyers), causing some investees to experience difficul-ties created by their counterparties’ defaulting. As a result, the Fund was obliged to provision for some transactions from the affected value chains over the course of 2016-17. How has your portfolio strategy changed?

Gaëlle Bonnieux:

In response, we have implemented a series of changes to our investment approach. Our processes now place greater empha-sis on deepening relationships with buyers, in order to ensure that issues with weaker linkages are not repeated. In terms of investee selection, we have chosen to focus more on compa-nies that add greater value to the initial product, e.g. produc-ers that also process, rather than only exporting raw commodi-ties. Transactions are now structured with larger amounts of collateral and greater emphasis on types of collateral that are easier to enforce, notably personal guarantees and pledges on assets. In doing so, we are able to achieve a better risk/return profile due to higher investee profit margins, while increasing the value kept “in country,” to the benefit of the local econ-omy. As an extension of this approach, we are also investing more with vertically integrated companies (VICs) that operate across multiple steps of the value chain.

Page 9: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 9

Anand Chandani:

These changes continue work that has already been done to adjust our approach to origination. In October 2015, the Fund prospectus was amended to allow investment across the value chain. Consequently, we have already been able to select in-vestments from a wider investment universe, diversifying into a greater variety of business models. We are also looking more to investees operating across multiple activities and/or crops.

Gaëlle Bonnieux:

The above can be summarised in the following key dimensions of the portfolio strategy going forward: Our core portfolio of existing investees. This consists primarily of long-standing investees that we have financed for three or more cycles. The core portfolio continues to grow robustly in terms of financing requirements and will still represent the majority of the portfolio overall. Short-term working capital and medium/long-term financing with new investees. These new investees will typically be larger and more sophisticated, while generating a positive impact in rural areas in the developing world. New structures and channels with existing and new investees, including trade finance, co-financing and syndications. This will improve the risk profile of transactions, while expanding our universe of potential investees. All of these measures allow the investment team to optimise the risk profile of our portfolio, reducing provisioning levels substantially. Furthermore, we allocate greater amounts to markets where access to finance is low. This enables us to pro-vide more investment to countries where most of the agricul-tural sector is financially excluded. In addition, we have fos-tered internal resources and processes in order to achieve a more effective and efficient deal selection, assessment, risk analysis, structuring and recovery. What is the performance outlook?

Gaëlle Bonnieux

Yields have remained stable at 8.5% in USD terms; we antici-pate that they will remain at 8.0-8.5% throughout 2018-19. The adjustments listed above are also expected to improve the overall quality of our portfolio, even as it grows. The restructur-ing portfolio created by previous issues is now mostly provi-sioned, and loan-loss rates related to this will taper off in the near term. We expect provisions to drop from 3% currently to 1-2% for 2018, in line with expected long-term loss rates. Once the effects of the new portfolio strategy have been fully felt, we expect performance to be in line with its long-term tar-get return range in 2018. Furthermore, as a result of the effi-ciencies created by a more focused portfolio strategy, we will

reduce our management fee by 55 basis points in 2018. Therefore, next year the responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund will be in an ideal position to provide value to investors while having a positive impact on rural areas in the developing world. Are you still able to provide the desired development effects with the more focused strategy?

Gaëlle Bonnieux:

Smallholder farmers and rural SMEs remain chronically under-financed by the banking sector in most of the developing world. Yet at the same time, agriculture is still a key source of employment, as well as a vital part of long-term economic de-velopment. Indeed, the provision of a variety of financing solu-tions for farmers will become even more essential amid the de-mands of rising populations and the disruption of climate change. Consequently, demand for financing remains high, and will continue to be so in the long term. At the same time, the impact of our financing will remain widespread, to the benefit of AVCAs and local rural economies. In 2016, inves-tees of the responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund achieved USD 1.5 billion in sales from 1.2 million hectares under cultivation. As well as providing crucial support for nearly 300,000 small-holder farming households, our investees last year retained 21,000 permanent employees, and 17,000 seasonal employ-ees, mostly in countries where formal employment in rural ar-eas is still extremely low. With our adjusted strategy, we be-lieve that we can improve the scale of our impact even further as the portfolio grows.

Page 10: FAIR AGRICULTURE - responsAbility · The Fund also provided financing to importers located in de-veloped countries that work with producers in developing coun-tries, mainly in Africa,

responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 10

Fund Facts

Fund name responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund

Fund domicile and type Switzerland, contractual investment fund of the type “Other funds for alternative investments” associated with a particular risk

Asset manager responsAbility Investments AG, Zurich

Fund management company Credit Suisse Funds AG, Zurich

Fund administration Credit Suisse AG, Zürich

Custodian bank Credit Suisse AG, Zürich

Inception date (fund) 21 December 2011

Fund currency USD, hedged CHF and EUR classes available

Target net return in fund cur-rency

3–5% p.a. over a horizon of five years. The target return is not a projection, prediction, or guarantee of future performance, and there is no guarantee that the target return will be achieved.

Distribution No distribution, returns are reinvested

Valuation (NAV calculation) Monthly, one bank working day after the last bank working day of the month

Subscription of units Monthly, requests must be submitted before the last bank working day of each month

Redemption of units Monthly, subject to two months’ notice

Approved for distribution to private investors

Switzerland

Approved for distribution to professional, semiprofessional and qualified investors

Switzerland and Singapore

Retrocessions For the class B1V (CHF), B2V (EUR), B3V (USD), I1 (CHF), I2 (EUR) and I3 (USD) no retrocession fee is paid

Classes Valor ISIN Total Expense Ratio (TER)

Investors Minimum sub-scription

Inception date (classes)

B1 (CHF) 14258736 CH0142587366 approx. 3.45% p.a. All investors

1 unit (CHF/EUR/USD 100 at inception)

December 2011

B2 (EUR) 14258737 CH0142587374 approx. 3.45% p.a. All investors December 2011

B3 (USD) 14258738 CH0142587382 approx. 3.45% p.a. All investors February 2012

B1V (CHF) 24418700 CH0244187008 approx. 3.10% p.a. Investors who place subscriptions of units with a distribution agent in the United Kingdom or the Nether-lands or who have concluded a written agreement with a distribu-tion agent in which the acquisition of classes for which no distribution fees are charged is explicitly in-tended

1 unit (CHF/EUR/USD 100 at inception)

July 2014

B2V (EUR) 29797430 CH0297974302 approx. 3.10% p.a. February 2016

B3V (USD) 29797434 CH0297974344 approx. 3.10% p.a. February 2016

I1 (CHF) 14258739 CH0142587390 approx. 2.85% p.a.

Only for qualified investors in the sense of the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes

CHF 1,000,000 November 2011

I2 (EUR) 14258740 CH0142587408 approx. 2.85% p.a. EUR 1,000,000 September 2014

I3 (USD) 29797435 CH0297974351 approx. 2.85% p.a. USD 1,000,000 October 2015

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responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 11

Risk disclosure:

The responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund is a contractual investment fund governed by Swiss law of the category «Other funds for alternative investments» bearing a particular risk. The investment fund invests in assets by which the direct or indirect fair-trade-oriented institutions in less developed countries are financed or refinanced. The risks of the investment fund are not comparable to the risks of securities funds. The inventors’ attention is expressly drawn to the risks expounded in the prospectus or investment fund agreement, respectively, and to the lower liquidity and the more difficult assessability of the investments of the fund which are usually not listed and not traded. The investors must assume that up to 75% of the assets of the investment fund may be invested directly or indirectly in the raw commodity coffee and up to 40% in a single country or up to 100% of the assets of the investment fund on one single continent (for example South America). The investors must particularly be prepared and able to accept capital losses including a total loss. Consequently the shares in the responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund should only ac-count for a minor slice of the investor’s portfolio and the shares should be held in a diversified portfolio.

Legal disclaimer

This information material was produced by responsAbility Investments AG (hereinafter “responsAbility”). This information material relates to re-sponsibility Fair Agriculture Fund (further referred to as the “Product“). The information contained in this information material (hereinafter “infor-mation”) is based on sources considered to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. The information is subject to change at any time and without obligation to notify the investors. Unless otherwise indicated, all figures are unaudited and are not guaranteed. For full details of Product features and of the opportunities, risks, and costs associated with the Product, please see the corresponding legal doc-uments, i.e., to the extent applicable and available, the sales prospectus, the annual and half-yearly reports (further referred to collectively as the “Product Documents”). Any action derived from this information is always at the investors’ own risk. This information material is for information purposes only, and is not an official confirmation of terms. The value of an investment and any income from it are not guaranteed. Changes in the assumptions may have a substantial impact on the return. Past performance is no indication of current or future performance. The performance data does not take account of commission charged on issue and redemption of the units. An annual fee shall be charged for the administration and asset management services provided as part of this financial product. The maximum amount of this management fee shall be based on the prospectus. As distribution fee, a specific percentage of the equity holding at the end of the year may be paid to responsAbility or third parties. The maximum amount of such a distribution fee shall be based on the prospectus. Furthermore, responsAbility shall not receive or pay either one-time or recurring remuneration to other distributors in connection with this financial product. This information is not intended as an offer or a recommendation or an invitation to purchase or sell financial instruments or financial services and does not release the recipient from making his/her own assessment. In particular, the recipient is advised to assess the information, with the assistance of an advisor if necessary, with re-gard to its compatibility with his/her own circumstances in view of any legal, regulatory, tax, and other implications. The fund targets investments that are associated with a higher risk than investments in more developed markets or countries. Emerging markets exist in countries that display at least one of the following features: a degree of political instability; relatively unpredictable trends in growth and financial market development; a financial market that is still at a developing stage; a weak economy. As a rule, investments in emerging markets are exposed to greater risks. These include political and economic risks and risks relating, for example, to soundness, exchange rates, market liquidity, legal regulations, set-tlement, markets, shareholders, and creditors. Investors should be willing and financially able to accept the risk features of the investments de-scribed in this information material. Commodity investments are prone to wider fluctuations in value than conventional investments, and may entail additional investment risks. responsAbility and/or the members of its board of directors and employees may have a participation in the investment fund (or any related investments) and may add to or sell these positions from time to time. Additionally, the members of the board of directors and employees of responsAbility may serve as members of boards of directors of the investments in which the investment fund is in-vested. This information material is expressly not intended for persons who, due to their nationality or place of residence, are not permitted ac-cess to such information under applicable law. The financial product specified in this information material is not licensed for distribution in the United States of America. As a result, it may not be offered, sold, or delivered there. Neither the present information material nor copies thereof shall be sent or taken to the United States of America, or issued in the US or to a US person (in the terms of Regulation S of the United States Securities Act of 1933, in the respective current version). This information material may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans-mitted, in part or in full, in any form or by any means, whether electronically, mechanically, photocopied, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of responsAbility.

Singapore: The offer or invitation of the shares (the “Shares”) of the Product which is the subject of this marketing material, does not relate to a collective investment scheme which is authorised under Section 286 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”) or recognised under Section 287 of the SFA. The Product is not authorised or recognised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the “MAS”) and the Shares are not allowed to be offered to the retail public. This marketing material and any other document or material issued in connection with the offer or sale is not a prospectus as defined in the SFA and accordingly, statutory liability under the SFA in relation to the content of pro-spectuses does not apply, and you should consider carefully whether the investment is suitable for you. This marketing material has not been registered as a prospectus with the MAS. Accordingly, this marketing material and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of Shares may not be circulated or distributed, nor may Shares be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional inves-tor under Section 304 of the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person pursuant to Section 305(1), or any person pursuant to Section 305(2), and in accord-ance with the conditions specified in Section 305 of the SFA, or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA. Where Shares are subscribed or purchased under Section 305 of the SFA by a relevant person which is: (a) a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or (b) a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor,

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responsAbility Fair Agriculture Fund – Quarterly Report 12

securities (as defined in Section 239(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the Shares pursuant to an offer made under Section 305 of the SFA except: (1) to an institutional investor or to a relevant person defined in Section 305(5) of the SFA, or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 305A(3)(i)(B) of the SFA; (2) where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer; (3) where the transfer is by operation of law; (4) as specified in Section 305A(5) of the SFA; or (5) as specified in Regulation 36 of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations 2005 of Singapore.

Switzreland: The Product is licensed as an investment fund under Swiss law for distribution in Switzerland as a contractual investment fund of the type “Other funds for alternative investments” associated with a particular risk. The prospectus, the management regulations, and the annual and semiannual reports may be obtained free of charge from Credit Suisse Funds AG in Zurich, Credit Suisse AG in Zurich, and from any distribu-tion partner. Representative in Switzerland is Credit Suisse Funds AG, Uetlibergstrasse 231, CH-8070 Zurich and paying agent in Switzerland is Credit Suisse AG, Paradeplatz 8, CH-8001 Zurich.

© 2017, responsAbility Investments AG. All rights reserved.

responsAbility Investments AG Josefstrasse 59, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland Phone +41 44 250 99 30, Fax +41 44 250 99 31 www.responsAbility.com