July 19, 2021

photo credit: Suja Life

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Paine Schwartz Partners has acquired California-based Suja Life, a leader in organic, cold-pressed beverages, including juices, kombucha, and vinegar beverages, from Gold Sachs Asset Management and co-investors for an unspecified amount. 

Suja sold a 30 percent stake to Coca-Cola for $90 million, and another 20 percent stake to Goldman Sachs for $60 million, carrying a value of $300 million by the beginning of 2016. And by 2018 the company was posting revenue of approximately $100 million.

Twenty-nineteen was a busy year for Paine Schwartz, marked by the final closing of its Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund V, L.P. (Fund V) in September, which targeted an impressive $1.2 billion and exceeded that goal at $1.425 billion, due to oversubscribed demand and strong interest from its investors. In addition to sustained strong support from North American limited partners, Fund V generated increased demand from the international community, including the Middle East, Western Europe, and Asia, including Japan.

“This was truly a global capital raising effort, with participation from new and existing limited partners around the world,” said Kevin Schwartz, CEO of Paine Schwartz. “We have seen an increasing number of institutional investors focused on the food and agribusiness opportunity set, along with the need for sustainability, which is synergistic with driving positive investment outcomes in this sector.”

That same year, Bob DeBorde joined Suja as CEO, going on to lead the company onward toward tremendous growth.

“My time at Suja has been some of the best years of my career,” said DeBorde. “I feel honored to be part of this achievement and along with the entire Suja team, we are incredibly excited to grow with our new partners at Paine Schwartz Partners as we embark on the next phase of this journey.”

Launched in 2012, Suja Life’s clean, nutritious and plant-based products rapidly became favorites of consumers, celebrities, and investors. Very quickly Suja Life became the leading organic, cold-press beverage brand in the U.S., democratizing organics for consumers while “delivering health without punishment”, according to the company.

“I’m excited to see Suja achieve so much success after the almost 10-year journey of this amazing brand and I could not be more excited for the next chapter,” said James Brennan, co-founder, Suja Life.

“Suja has experienced two phases of rapid growth, the initial years after the brand was founded and then again since 2018,” continued Brennan. “The Suja team has delivered fantastic results in recent years. Outside of our internal team, I would also like to thank Nicole Agnew of Goldman Sachs for having the vision to lead a recapitalization of the company last year.”

Suja has also been the recipient of some of the industry’s most coveted awards, including Whole Foods Market Supplier of the Year and multiple NEXTY awards.

“Suja’s success has led them to become a household brand, and we’re thrilled to have been part of the journey,” commented Nicole Agnew, managing director in Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “We are grateful to the whole team for their stewardship of the company during the global pandemic and for giving us the confidence to increase our ownership of the company last year.”

Suja stated that the company decided to partner with Paine Schwartz Partners due to their shared purpose of offering consumers better-for-you plant-based products.

“We have always had a thesis-driven approach to investing in the food and ag value chain. We’ve developed processes, after more than a decade of deploying capital, which start with longer-range research projects that are global in scope and help to identify pockets of growth and opportunity for investment,” Kevin Schwartz, CEO, Paine Schwartz Partners told GAI News in November 2019. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Schwartz said, “We are incredibly excited to partner with the Suja team at this inflection point in the company’s growth trajectory. Suja sits at the center of our company’s investment ethos – products that deliver great-tasting, functional ingredients that are as healthy for you as they are delicious.”

“Personally, I am also a longtime, loyal consumer of Suja’s innovative product line. We look forward to supporting the company in this next phase of growth, investing behind new products and expanding distribution to bring Suja to even more consumers everywhere.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor 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 Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.