Fund Manager of the Year – Americas
Winner: Paine Schwartz Partners
Runner up: Aqua Capital
Paine Schwartz Partners closed its blockbuster Food Chain Fund VI on $1.7 billion in September and has already deployed about 40 percent of the vehicle.
Last year also saw the New York-based firm carry out full and partial realizations on its investments into AgroFresh and Special New Fruit Licensing and create $1.1 billion in co-investment opportunities for its LPs.
Paine Schwartz also drew from Food Chain Fund VI to support its acquisition of Australian berry producer Costa Group alongside British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and Driscoll’s, a US-based berry grower. It’s the second time the firm has co-owned Costa, after drawing from its third fund for a 2011 investment, which the firm exited upon Costa’s 2015 ASX listing.
Institutional Investor of the Year – Americas
Winner: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
Runner up: Minnesota State Investment Board
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec advanced its longstanding agriculture portfolio in multiple ways last year.
The Canadian pension partnered with Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation to take a minority equity stake in asset manager Gunn Agri Partners and partnered with the firm to seed a new sustainable agriculture platform, Wilga Farming, with A$200 million ($134 million; €123 million).
Closer to home, CDPQ drew from its Sustainable Land Management platform for a March 2023 investment into Westervelt Ecological Services – a subsidiary of The Westervelt Company which was founded in 2006 – to focus on development of ecological restoration and offset development projects.
Equity Fundraising of the Year – Americas
Winner: Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund VI
Runner up: Solum Partners Fund II
New York-headquartered Paine Schwartz Partners surpassed an initial $1.5 billion target to close its sixth fund on $1.7 billion in 2023.
That haul ranks Food Chain Fund VI the third-largest dedicated food and agriculture private equity fund ever, according to Agri Investor data.
The vehicle also created $1.1 billion of co-investment opportunities for LPs and supported investments including into shelf-life extension-focused company AgroFresh Solutions, Australian berry producer Costa Group, biochemicals producer Elemental Enzymes and Monterey Mushrooms, among others.
Deal of the Year – Americas
Winner: AgroFresh (Paine Schwartz Partners)
Runner up: Biotrop (Buyers: Biobest, Tikehau Capital, M&G Investments, Unigrains; Sellers: Aqua Capital, GIC)
AgroFresh Solutions provides post-harvest technologies and services to extend the shelf life of fresh produce and reduce waste.
In July 2020, the company was facing a challenging near-term debt maturity in the wake of covid-19, which helped create an opportunity for Paine Schwartz Partners.
After determining AgroFresh’s prospects were more promising as a private company, the New York-headquartered agribusiness specialists initiated a take-private transaction for $3 per share that closed in April and cleared the way for a September bolt-on of packaging provider Tessara and other future growth initiatives.
Timberland Deal of the Year – Americas
Winner: Sonoco timberland assets (Manulife Investment Management)
Runner up: 250,000-acre timberland asset (Campbell Global) and McCloud Forest (New Forests)
New York Stock Exchange listed packaging company Sonoco Products Company was founded in 1899 and has undertaken a transition to exclusively recycled fibers in its products.
As a result, the company no longer requires its own natural tree fiber and in March, Manulife Investment Management acquired 55,000 acres of South Carolina timberland from the company for $72 million.
Sonoco chief executive Howard Coker said in a statement that Manulife’s established commitment to sustainable management left the company confident in the future of the properties’ management.
Timberland Fund Manager of the Year – Americas
Winner: SilviPar Astarte
Runner up: BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group
SilviPar Astarte has made substantial fundraising progress on its SA Impact Forestry Fund, which started life with a $200 million target but has now secured $284 million in commitments and is expected to close on $330 million this year.
The firm has offices in Stockholm, London and Paraguay, the last of which is the focus of a hunt for highly degraded pastureland as part of a strategy targeting gross IRRs of more than 20 percent.
SA has identified portions of four of its properties well-suited to production of carbon credits under the Verra Verified Carbon Standard and began producing credits from the first of those projects last year. Ultimately, plans for the 10-year Impact Forestry Fund call for a 70,000ha portfolio, of which 50,000 hectares has already been acquired.
Agribusiness Deal of the Year – Americas
Winner: AgroFresh (Paine Schwartz Partners)
Runner up: Biotrop (Buyers: Biobest, Tikehau Capital, M&G Investments, Unigrains; Sellers: Aqua Capital, GIC)
Paine Schartz Partners acquired the remaining shares it did not already own in NASDAQ-exchange listed AgroFresh Solutions in April. PSP chief executive and managing partner Kevin Schwartz told Agri Investor the firm had been following AgroFresh for over 10 years due to its leading role in reducing food waste.
The New York-based firm got its foot in the door in 2020 with a $150 million investment that gave it preferred stock equivalent to 36 percent of outstanding shares in the company, before completing its buyout in 2023 for $3 per share.
“The company couldn’t [as a listed business] take advantage of all the opportunities for growth and value creation and development of new products or expansion into new geographies or M&A,” said Schwartz.
Agribusiness Fund Manager of the Year – Americas
Winner: Paine Schwartz Partners
Runner up: Aqua Capital
It was a year of big headline-making deals and fund closes at Paine Schwartz Partners in 2023, as the firm completed the take-private of AgroFresh in April – a deal which has won several awards in its own right.
The firm also closed its blockbuster Food Chain Fund VI on $1.7 billion in September and has already deployed about 40 percent of the vehicle, while also creating $1.1 billion in co-investment opportunities for the firm’s LPs.
PSP also achieved a partial realization of its 2019 investment into Special New Fruit Licensing, which was merged with International Fruit Genetics to create Bloom Fresh International (PSP owns the merged business with EQT Future and Am Fresh).
The firm received board approval from Costa Group to complete the buyout of the Australian agribusiness alongside a group of investors.
