Paine Schwartz Partners has held a final close of its sixth fund, Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund VI LP, with an above target $1.7 billion of capital commitments.
Limited partners in Fund VI, include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, family offices and other institutional investors. Paine Schwartz’s earlier fund, Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund V LP, closed with $1.4 billion of capital commitments in October 2019.
Fund VI will invest exclusively in sustainable investments in the food and agribusiness sector with a specific interest in productivity and sustainability businesses that enhance agricultural productivity while limiting resource consumption; and health and wellness businesses that provide access to healthier, more nutritious and safer food.
“We are pleased to have successfully completed fundraising for Fund VI, and we appreciate the support we received from both existing and new limited partners,” said Kevin Schwartz, the chief executive officer of Paine Schwartz. “Our ability to exceed our initial fundraising target in a challenging market environment reflects our firm’s track record and the continued resonance of our sustainable investment focus with investors.”
According to Paine Schwartz, its sixth fund is the largest fund ever raised to invest singularly across the food and agribusiness value chain.
Paine Schwartz has already deployed approximately 40% of Fund VI, including investments in Philadelphia-based AgroFresh Solutions (April 2023), Australia-based Costa Group (September 2023), St. Louis-based Elemental Enzymes (June 2023), Jacksonville-based HGS BioScience (September 2022), and Watsonville, California-based Monterey Mushrooms (October 2022).
“With Fund VI, we are continuing to invest to feed a growing population better food with more efficient use of resources,” added Mr. Schwartz. “Food and agribusiness has been the fastest growing sector for more than 15 years and continues to be underserved by the investment community. Guided by our core themes, we are targeting investments in segments associated with long-term growth that have limited commodity exposure and limited private equity competition. We look forward to leveraging our deep knowledge, industry relationships and thesis-driven approach to capture the numerous attractive value creation opportunities we see ahead.”
Paine Schwartz was founded in 2006 by Dexter Paine and Mr. Schwartz and provides equity to food and agribusiness companies for management buyouts, going-private transactions, expansion and growth programs. Paine Schwartz has offices in New York City and San Mateo, California.
Paine Schwartz engaged Lazard Frères & Co. as its placement agent and Kirkland & Ellis provided legal services.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | September 28, 2023
