Food and agribusiness-focused private equity investor Paine Schwartz Partners announced that it has raised $1.7 billion at the final closing of the Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund VI, L.P., focused on sustainable investments across the food value chain.

Launched last year, the fund has exceeded its initial fundraising target of $1.5 billion.

At closing, Fund VI is the largest fund dedicated to investing across the food and agribusiness value chainand is Paine Schwartz’s largest fund to date; the company’s previous Fund V raised $1.4 billion.

Fund VI is exclusively focused on sustainable investments in the fast-growing food and agribusiness sector. Paine Schwartz has already deployed approximately 40% the fund, including investments in AgroFresh Solutions, Costa Group, Elemental Enzymes, HGS BioScience and Monterey Mushrooms.

Paine Schwartz said that it 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.

The Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) has noted that the agriculture sector, together with forestry and other land uses, contributes nearly a quarter of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). But historically emission reductions from food production have received less support than those from other sectors such as energy and transport. Investment in mitigating climate impacts from the agribusiness industry is essential to prevent the industry from becoming a dominant source of global emissions by mid-century.

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. Paine Schwartz completed the final closing of Fund VI within approximately one year of its first close.

Kevin Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Paine Schwartz said:

“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.”