Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Proximity Malt, LLC announced the closing of a private equity fundraising round with commitments of $60 million from NGP Global Agribusiness.

 

Currently, the bulk of malt that is produced and made available to the U.S. craft brewing industry is provided through large, global malting companies that are located in the western U.S., Canada, and Europe, forcing may craft breweries to source their malt from facilities that are as far as 1,000 miles away from their production sites.

 

“What sets Proximity Malt apart, is that we will establish local raw material sources and newly constructed malting facilities in close proximity to craft brewers. Proximity Malt will provide an alternate, sustainable and customer focused line of quality base and specialty malt products right in the brewers’ backyard,” says Dale West, CEO of Proximity Malt.

 

Proximity malt plans to disrupt the supply chain by providing locally source and produced specialty malts for the craft brewing sector through the construction of state-of-the-art plants that are custom-sized to match the regional brewing market. The company also aims to collaborate with local craft brewers to advance their product development initiatives and to attain their sustainability goals.

 

“NGP Global Agribusiness Partners brings both the financial resources and agribusiness knowledge to support our experienced management team in establishing a world class start-up food and beverage ingredients company,” said Mr. West. “There is no doubt in my mind that we’ve chosen the right partner to ensure we meet our objective of being the preeminent local malt supplier for craft brewers and distillers.”

 

Founded in 1988, NGP is an affiliate of NGP Energy Capital Management, and is a leader in private equity in the agribusiness sector. The group has approximately $19.5 billion in cumulative equity commitments across the natural resources sector.

 

Wisconsin-based Proximity Malt is headed by chief executive, Dale West and chief financial officer, Dale Bugajski, both former senior executives of Malteurop North America Inc., also based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Headquartered in Reims, France, the Malteurop Group is the world’s top malt producer, with a presence in over 14 countries in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia, producing more than 2.2 million tons of product per year.

 

Proximity is currently conducting the final stages of due diligence on production sites in the Mid-Atlantic and Mountain West regions of the U.S., with expectations of having their first two facilities in full production by the first quarter of 2017.