July 26, 2023
Briarcliffe was proud to have supported Proterra Investment Partners on the successful fundraise of its Credit Fund II which exceeded the $500 million hard cap. Jess Larsen, Founder & CEO of Briarcliffe, said, "investors are seeking access to top-tier, differentiated private credit strategies. As we saw from the incredible LP interest, Proterra's credit strategy is the perfect opportunity to meet that demand.” The fundraise attracted commitments from a diverse group of existing and new investors including state, local and corporate pension funds, insurers, family offices, RIA clients, and Proterra professionals.
Proterra’s credit funds provide financing to North American middle-market food and beverage companies, with a focus on leading and arranging unitranche loans in support of sponsor-backed acquisitions. Since launching the strategy, Proterra has made over 20 investments, capitalizing on numerous long-term trends transforming the industry, such as the increased consumer demand for sustainably grown, clean label, and "better for you" products. These have offered investors a unique opportunity to achieve attractive, risk-adjusted returns with an established product in a growing and dynamic sector.
The close was reported by Agri Investor which referenced Managing Partner Rich Gammill. He said, “With rising interest rates, bank balance sheets are rising so banks have definitely pulled back in terms of their cashflow lending, not just into the food vertical, but really all lending in general." He continued, "[This] is creating a very interesting opportunity for private credit funds. You don’t have to compete with banks directly because they are having issues with other parts of their balance sheet, [such as with] real estate.”
Proterra Investment Partners is a global alternative asset manager with $3.7 billion in AUM. With diverse skills and experiences, the firm is led by a team that has worked together for more than a decade. The now 61-person firm was originally spun out of Black River Asset Management, a wholly owned, independently managed subsidiary of Cargill, a global agriculture, food, beverage, financial, and industrial leader. Among credit fund managers, Proterra holds a top-quartile ESG transparency score according to Preqin. For more information, visit https://www.proterrapartners.com/.
Click below to read Proterra's press release.
