Paine Schwartz Partners (“Paine Schwartz”), a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, announced the final closing of Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund VI, L.P. (“Fund VI”) at $1.7 billion of total capital commitments. Fund VI is the largest fund dedicated to investing across the food and agribusiness value chain, building on Paine Schwartz’s 20-plus year track record as a leader in the space.

Paine Schwartz completed the final closing of Fund VI within approximately one year of its first close. Fund VI is Paine Schwartz’s largest fund to date, 17% bigger than its previous $1.4 billion Fund V. The fund attracted a diverse array of real asset, private equity and impact-oriented investors, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments / foundations, family offices and other institutional investors.

Fund VI is exclusively focused on sustainable investments in the fast-growing food and agribusiness sector. Paine Schwartz has already deployed approximately 40% of Fund VI, including investments in AgroFresh Solutions, Costa Group, Elemental Enzymes, HGS BioScience and Monterey Mushrooms. Paine Schwartz will continue to seek attractive and actionable investment opportunities for Fund VI across two core themes:

• 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.

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With Fund VI, Paine Schwartz will seek to embed its strong Environmental, Social and Governance platform across its investments to simultaneously drive growth and make a positive impact through responsible investment practices. 

“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, 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.”

Mr. Schwartz continued, “With Fund VI, we are continuing to invest to feed a growing population better food with more efficient use of resources. 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 currently has $5.7 billion of assets under management and the team comprises over 60 employees and advisors with domain expertise operating on a fully integrated basis seeking to systematically develop and execute successful investment strategies.

Lazard Frères & Co. LLC served as placement agent to Paine Schwartz, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel.