EMVest Asset Management

EMVest Asset Management is a private equity firm based in Pretoria, South Africa, with an additional office in London, United Kingdom.

Overview

EMVest Asset Management was founded in 2011.[1] It is a joint venture between Emergent Asset Management and Grainvest, a subsidiary of the RussellStone Group.[2] The firm invests in landholdings in South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe.[1]

In June 2011, the Oakland Institute revealed that Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, and other American colleges and universities had invested heavily in African landholding via this firm.[3] They were accused of "landgrabbing."[3] By 2013, Vanderbilt University, a university based in Nashville, Tennessee where students had led protests in the wake of the revelation, removed its US$26 million investment from EMVest.[4]

References

  1. Company Overview of EmVest Asset Management Pty Limited Bloomberg Business, retrieved October 28, 2015^
  2. Courtney Comstock. Meet The Millionaires And Billionaires Suddenly Buying Tons Of Land In Africa Business Insider, June 30, 2011, retrieved October 28, 2015^
  3. John Vidal, Claire Provost, US universities in Africa 'land grab', The Guardian, June 8, 2011^
  4. Vanderbilt University Divests from "Land Grab" in Africa, Oakland Institute, February 13, 2013^