Paine & Partners has signed an agreement to acquire Suba Seeds Company, a specialty vegetable and legume seed producer based in Italy.
Suba is a producer, packer and distributor of specialty vegetable seeds for professional, semi-professional and hobby garden markets. The company is also a contract supplier to major seed companies. Suba is the world’s leading producer of coriander (cilantro), and its portfolio of core crops include varieties of beans, peas, radish, cabbage, alfalfa, carrots, chicory and onion. Suba is supplied with its seed products through a network of more than 1,000 growers. The company was founded in 1974 by Augusto Suzzi and is headquartered southeast of Bologna in Longiano, Italy (www.subaseeds.com/eng).
Paine & Partners provides equity capital for management buyouts, going private transactions, and company expansion and growth programs, for companies operating in the food and agribusiness industries. The firm currently invests through its $893 million Paine & Partners Fund IV, which is solely dedicated to agribusiness investing. Paine & Partners was founded in 2006 and has offices in New York, Chicago and San Mateo, CA (www.painepartners.com).
Paine & Partners has previously invested in the seed industry through a predecessor fund that invested in Seminis, a developer, producer and marketer of vegetable and fruit seeds that was sold to Monsanto in 2005; and in Advanta, an agronomic seed company that was sold in 2006 to United Phosphorus.
“Our acquisition of Suba will provide Paine & Partners the opportunity to leverage our substantial in-house seed investment expertise and operating knowledge across the seed industry to build a global leading specialty vegetable seeds production platform,” said Kevin Schwartz, President and a founding Partner at Paine & Partners.
Paine & Partners intends to build on Suba’s competitive advantages by expanding into new markets, enhancing Suba’s portfolio with higher margin products and making strategic acquisitions. “Suba has built an unmatched reputation for meeting the needs of our customers with our high quality and reliable seed products since our founding more than 40 years ago,” said CEO Marcello Tumedei. “As we look toward the continued growth of our company, we have found an ideal partner in Paine & Partners, who shares our vision and confidence in Suba’s long-term growth prospects. Paine & Partners has a proven track record and unparalleled expertise in agribusiness, and we look forward to benefiting from their experience and their resources as we take Suba to the next level.”
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-28-15
