Cru staff to move to Maguire's Africa Invest initiative

Some of the sales and marketing staff made redundant by Cru Investment Management will join Jon Maguire’s Africa Invest initiative.

Cru confirmed yesterday that it had cut its entire sales and marketing team, making eight positions redundant.

In an email sent today, Maguire said that a number of former sales and marketing staff from Cru would be joining Africa Invest Fund Management.

‘We have had to make some very talented marketing and sales personnel redundant from within cru,’ he said.

‘I asked Duncan Parker, managing director of international development and distribution for Africa Invest Fund Management, to consider some ex-cru staff for positions within the Africa Invest business and I am delighted that some of them have decided to join his business division.’

Maguire emphasised in the email that Africa Invest has ‘no operational connection with cru other than my position as non-executive chairman of cru and chairman of Africa Invest’.

‘I can understand that the suspension of the CF ARCH cru funds coinciding with the launch of capital raising by Africa Invest Fund Management looks clumsy at best, and crass at worst,’ he said.

‘However, the board of Africa Invest has no interest in seeing its business plans derailed by problems the chairman has in one of his other business interests, and they have every right to pursue the development of their business internationally.’

Maguire and other Africa Invest directors are set to tour the UK in April and May to promote the launch of the firm’s Africa Agri fund.

Maguire also emphasised the growth of the Africa Invest agricultural investment business, pointing to its holdings of seven farms covering 6,000 acres in Malawi, commercial farm workforce of more than 1,450, more than 5,000 outgrower farms and 2,300 orphaned or malnourished children who attend daily feeding programmes.