January 4, 2024

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Biobest is on quite a run. Directly on the heels of closing on €120 million ($126.8 million) and announcing its acquisition of Brazilian biologicals leader Biotrop in September 2023, the pollination and integrated biologicals leader announced it has now gained another $75 million investment from M&G Investments to help fund the acquisition. 

Biobest has roots going back to 1987 when veterinarian Roland De Jonghe began breeding bumblebees in his garage for the purpose of organically pollinating tomato plants. Due to labor costs, yield discrepancies, and quality issues associated with manual pollination, demand for bumblebees from tomato growers took off.

Over the course of the ensuing years, Biobest continued to grow, forming global joint ventures, earning its first biopesticide registration in 1998, expanding into Spain, France, Mexico, the U.S., Argentina, China, the Netherlands, Canada, and the UK; and completing acquisitions in Kenya, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Mexico, France, Israel, Turkey, and Australia as sales reached EUR 100 million by 2018. 

Sales topped EUR 300 million in 2022, and the global expansion, partnerships, awards, and investments continued – most recently in Brazil, where Biobest announced it agreed to acquire biologicals leader Biotrop.

This impressive history, along with Biobest’s mission to promote sustainable production of high-value crops through biological crop protection and pollination, has now drawn another $75 million investment from M&G Investment through Catalyst – its £5 billion (US$6.3 billion) purpose-led flexible private assets strategy – to fund the acquisition. 

Biobest is at the front of the wave in biological pest and disease control and this acquisition of Biotrop will work to cement Biobest’s position as a major player in South America while expanding its range of biological solutions to include biocontrol through beneficial insects and biopesticides, inoculants, biostimulants, and pollination services for both covered and open-field crops. At the same time, the deal will play a role in Biobest’s transitional arc from a horticulture biocontrol and pollination specialist to a biologicals player in agriculture.

“This investment to support Biobest’s transformative acquisition not only solidifies Catalyst’s determination to fund innovation that helps to solve the world’s biggest environmental and social obstacles, but further reasserts Biobest’s position as a global leader in sustainable agriculture,” said Niranjan Sirdeshpande, global head of investments, M&G Catalyst.

M&G Investments noted the various detrimental issues now well-known to be associated with traditional chemical pesticide usage. Agricultural pests are the root cause of social, economic, and health damage that account for $70 billion in crop losses in the U.S. alone. However, not only are traditional pesticides broadly harmful to the beneficial insects that happen to be present, they also are significantly harmful to the environment and human health – all while the targeted pests continue to become more resistant to our tools at-hand.

“It is now more important than ever to accelerate the transition to sustainable solutions,” said Sirdeshpande. “Our strategy boils down to investing where it counts by seeking to deliver long term financial returns and an overall positive impact to the environment and society. This exciting venture encapsulates this unconditionally.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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