For a year now, sixteen Investment Funds in Agro-industrial Production Chains (Fiagro) have held some type of problematic asset. And seven of the nine most liquid funds on the B3 stock exchange are dealing with delays or non-compliance with guarantees.
It is in this context that JiveMauá decided to debut in the market and list its JiveMauá Agronegócio Fiagro (JMAG) for trading on Cetip. With R$ 25 billion under management, the asset manager specializing in distressed assets will take advantage of others' mistakes to become a creditor in the agribusiness sector.
“We are entering into operations with real guarantees and taking advantage of a more negative cycle to better select risks. It becomes much easier to make decisions,” Samer Serhan, CIO of private credit, infrastructure, agribusiness and pension funds at JiveMauá, told NeoFeed .
JMAG is launching with a portfolio of over R$500 million. The senior tranche – accessible to the general investor – has a target return of 15% per year, net of costs, in a fixed-rate series with a six-year term. The public offering is coordinated by XP.
But what helps explain the unique selling point of Fiagro from JiveMauá is the fund's subordination structure. This subordinated share is equivalent to 15% of the assets (R$ 75 million) and functions as a "line of defense".
This means that all costs associated with the structure and any initial losses are passed through it before impacting the senior tranche. In practice, the investor only starts to lose money after the asset manager has already fully absorbed this amount.
"The senior investor only loses R$ 1 if JiveMauá loses the R$ 75 million first," says Paulo Fleury, agribusiness manager at JiveMauá.
With a 15% reporting structure, JMAG is in the upper range of the industry, where many managers operate between 10% and 12%, and in some cases even below 5%.
There are funds with higher levels on paper, of 20% or 25%, but without the manager's own capital to absorb the initial loss. This is where JiveMauá's differentiator lies: the R$75 million comes from existing funds managed by the firm, absorbing the initial impact.
JMAG also differentiates itself through its approach to the market. Instead of seeking future diversification, the fund debuts with a portfolio of 22 operations and a pipeline exceeding R$ 800 million, with full allocation expected within 60 to 80 days.
The operations are distributed among different instruments, such as FIDCs (Investment Funds in Credit Rights), Agribusiness Receivables Certificates (CRAs), Rural Producer Credit (CPRs), debentures, and sale and leaseback structures, in agribusiness subsectors ranging from inputs and machinery to rural producers, the food industry, and distributors.
The entry into agribusiness also reflects an internal movement within JiveMauá. The private credit division, created in 2022, has grown rapidly and already totals approximately R$ 5.5 billion.
To have a dedicated agribusiness team, the asset manager assembled a dedicated team of over 20 professionals, including lawyers and financial specialists. And, at the end of last year, they brought in Fleury to lead the strategy – he previously worked at firms such as Valor Capital, Solis, and eB Capital, in addition to managing FGAA11 at FG/A, one of the few Fiagros funds that weathered the recent period without significant credit problems.
“There’s no ideal time, no perfect timing for entering [private credit for agribusiness]. That matters less. But how we’re entering, that’s our big differentiator,” says Serhan.
Market environment
Launching a Fiagro in 2026 might seem counterintuitive. The sector is facing falling commodity prices, high costs, and a recent series of bankruptcy proceedings.
But it is precisely this type of environment that favors a more disciplined strategy. "Those who were going to cause problems have already done so. Now we are able to structure operations with guarantees, governance, and deadlines," says Fleury.
Therefore, to understand the timing of the JiveMauá fund, it is necessary to look at what went wrong in the Fiagros industry.
At the end of 2024, Fiagro IAGR11, from SFI Invest, became a symbol of a problem that the market preferred to ignore. Launched at R$ 11 per share, with the promise of tax-free dividends and controlled risk, the fund saw its assets plummet when four major agribusiness debtors filed for bankruptcy protection almost simultaneously.
In the fund's portfolio, 60% was in CRAs (Certificates of Real Estate Receivables) from Três Irmãos, Piva, Mitre, and Castilhos. The share price fell to R$ 3.97. More than 338,000 investors suffered significant losses, in some cases exceeding 30%. IAGR11 was not alone. GCRA11, from Galápagos Capital, had up to 34% of its assets exposed to the same issuers.
The first problem with these Fiagros funds was concentration, which showed that a poorly distributed portfolio can compromise the entire fund. The second was the weakness of the guarantees. A significant portion of the problematic Fiagros operated with pledges or guarantees that were difficult to enforce, which, in practice, put the investor in line for judicial reorganization.
And the third point was the lack of specialization. Amid the sector's boom, generalist asset managers entered the agribusiness market pressured for funding and ended up taking on risks they didn't understand.
As a pioneer in investments involving the purchase of distressed debt, restructuring of companies undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, or liquidation of assets to recover value, JiveMauá can leverage this reputation and DNA in JMAG – even though Fiagro itself is not a special situations fund.
"It is now permitted for funds intended for the general public, such as the one we are raising, to invest in companies undergoing judicial reorganization," says Serhan.
The condition, he explains, is that the judicial reorganization is consolidated and the receivables are performing, meaning the company has emerged from the chaos and has predictable cash flow.
JMAG may allocate a small portion to assets with this profile, provided that the senior shareholder protection structure is respected.
But Serhan argues that this type of opportunity has more to do with the distressed fund of the firm than with Fiagro's private credit fund.
Today, the Fiagros market exceeds R$ 40 billion. "If we compare it to real estate funds and the size of agribusiness, it's reasonable to project a market above R$ 200 billion in the coming years," says Fleury.
