December 10, 2015

Paine & Partners has made a strategic investment through its $893 million Paine & Partners Fund IV, acquiring a majority stake in the Australian biological pest control company, AgBiTech for an undisclosed amount. The investment by Paine & Partners will support AgBiTech in the realization of meeting its expansionary and growth goals.

Founded in 2002 in Queensland, AgBiTech is a leading developer and producer of environmentally safe biological pest control products and solutions that contribute to raising the sustainability of farming operations. The company produces a naturally occurring nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) that specifically targets Helicoverpa armigera caterpillars (cotton bollworm), which are particularly harmful to soybeans, corn, cotton, tomatoes, sweet corn, and sorghum. Because each NPV targets only a single, specific pest, all other beneficial species within the surrounding ecosystem are left untouched.

Currently, AgBiTech operates a manufacturing facility in Australia, and markets its products across Australia, Brazil, and the U.S. under the brands Vivus Max, Armigen, and Heligen. However, the company has plans to build a second manufacturing site based on its proprietary technology platform in the U.S. This second site will not only expand the company’s reach geographically, but will allow it to expand its product portfolio to include a wider range of biological insecticides that work against more prevalent pests including Spodoptera (fall armyworm), and Chrysodeixis (soybean looper).

“Since our founding, we have focused on providing solutions for growers to combat pests such as Helicoverpa, and we have enjoyed considerable success in the Australian market,” said AgBiTech chief executive, Anthony Hawes in a press release announcing the deal. “As this pest has emerged in other, critically important agricultural regions, we see significant opportunities to bring AgBiTech’s products to these new markets, where growers are looking for effective biological tools to support conventional and transgenic production systems.”

Following the acquisition, AgBiTech Co-founder, Jerrey Bidstrup will remain on the company’s board of directors, and the company will continue to be led by its current chief executive officer, Anthony Hawes, and its current senior management team.

Commenting on the deal in a company press release, Paine & Partners President and Founding Partner, Kevin Schwartz said, “This investment in AgBiTech reflects Paine & Partners’ belief in the value that can be created through sustainable and environmentally safe solutions to meet the growing global demand for food. AgBiTech’s high-quality NPV products help solve the challenges that farmers are facing from Helicoverpa. We look forward to working with AgBiTech’s management team and employees to build on AgBiTech’s first-mover advantage, its world class biological insecticide know-how, and its marketing and regulatory capabilities to expand into new products and geographic markets.”

“We are excited about this partnership with Paine & Partners, which allows us to work with a firm that has a long history of success in the agricultural inputs markets and shares our vision about the role biologicals can play in sustainable agriculture and safe production of food,” said AgBiTech’s Mr. Hawes. “We partnered with Paine & Partners after seeing how their investment in Australia’s Costa Group enabled Costa to successfully execute its growth strategy. The investment by Paine & Partners will help us to continue to drive growth in our existing markets and expand our product portfolio in Brazil and beyond.”