Paine Schwartz Partners LLC, a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, announced that it has made a strategic investment, through its Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund IV, in MS Biotech Holdings Inc., a provider of natural, proprietary products for enhancing performance and profitability in the beef feedlot and dairy markets.

Proceeds from Paine Schwartz's investment will be used to accelerate the development and commercialization of MS Biotec's organization and innovative products, allowing the company to capitalize on a significant market opportunity. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

MS Biotec is the world's first and only commercial producer of Megasphaera elsdenii, a lactate-utilizing probiotic that enables feedlots to accelerate cattle from roughage to high-concentrate diets. Enabled by its proprietary anaerobic fermentation and formulation expertise, the company has commercialized Lactipro Advance and has an innovative product pipeline that includes new freeze-dried and feed-incorporated product candidates. Additionally, MS Biotec has strong relationships with feedlots, dairies, nutritionists, veterinarians and other industry participants, according to the announcement.

Paine Schwartz chief executive officer and a founding partner Kevin Schwartz said, “We are excited to be making this investment in MS Biotec, a company with a strong team, a proprietary set of products and proven ability to commercialize a high-quality product pipeline with significant growth prospects. We have spent significant time analyzing the animal health industry, and MS Biotec represents the type of sustainable agribusiness investment we are targeting with our growth equity strategy.

"The company is well positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the growing natural animal health products market, driven by the needs to increase productivity with sustainable solutions," he added. "Through our investment, we will provide resources to expand the company's capabilities, build the organization, develop new products and expand into other applications and markets. We look forward to working with Leander and the rest of the MS Biotec team to realize the company's tremendous potential.”

MS Biotec utilizes a new state-of-the-art production facility in Wamego, Kan., and its continuous focus on quality control ensures that all products exceed industry standards for the production of probiotics, the announcement noted.

“This game-changing investment from Paine Schwartz Partners reflects the significant progress we have made in developing innovative natural solutions to the beef feedlot and dairy markets," MS Biotec CEO Leander van der Walt said. "The team at Paine Schwartz is bringing important financial resources and agribusiness expertise that will enable us to develop next-generation products and allocate further resources to animal studies, [research and development] and sales and marketing.”

Paine Schwartz is a private equity firm that focuses on investment opportunities in the fast-growing, dynamic global food and agribusiness sectors. The firm's investment, operations and finance professionals invest throughout cycles across the food and agribusiness value chain and bring a collaborative and active management approach to portfolio companies. The firm currently invests through its $893 million Paine Schwartz Food Chain Fund IV, which is dedicated solely to food and agribusiness investing.