The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and existing investor, BC Partners announced the acquisition of a significant minority stake in Allflex Group.

Allflex is a global animal intelligence and monitoring technology leader, bringing the latest technologies such as radio frequency identification, tissue sampling devices, visual ear tags, RFID implants milk meters, and other management devices to the livestock industry, regulatory bodies, the aquaculture sector and their related businesses across five continents.

“Demand for animal intelligence products and solutions is increasing worldwide and we are confident that Allflex is ideally positioned to continue to lead the space and expand into new markets,” said Jean-Baptiste Wautier, Managing Partner, BC Partners in a press statement. Furthermore, regulations within the electronic animal identification sector are becoming increasingly stringent, creating a prohibitive atmosphere for new players looking to enter the industry, but also leaving established operators to benefit from strong sector growth.

Although PSP Investments has existing exposure to dairy, cattle and farmland in both New Zealand and Australia, this is the first agtech investment for the fund which has C$112 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2015.

The investment follows on the heels of the establishment of PSP Investment’s new London-based team, which led by Simon Marc, managed the deal according to AGCanada, and points to the fund’s growing focus on Europe.

“There’s been a conscious effort to increase our presence in Europe and a key initiative to do that is building out a team in London. That team led this effort together with resources for Montreal,” said Guthrie Stewart, global head of private investments at PSP reports AGCanada.

At the same time, Electra Partners announced on behalf of Electra Private Equity that through this series of transactions, is has partially realized its investment in Allflex receiving €72 million (US$80.2 million) from the redemption of preferred equity and the sale of 28% of its 15% stake in Allflex.

Launched more than 25 years ago, Electra is a private equity fund manager that has invested more than £4.7 billion (US$6.24 billion) across 200 deals since being founded. As of March 31, 2016 the firm had £2 billion US$2.66 billion) under management.

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Lynda Kiernan