Isara, a new specialist investor in the food sector, announced the launch of its first £300m fund, which is aimed at improving the efficiency, quality and sustainability of food supply systems across the UK, Ireland and Western Europe. 

Isara will invest in food production and distribution businesses, claiming to help to stabilise and improve the current ecosystem undergoing structural shifts caused by rising inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, and a growing commitment to sustainability.

While focusing on majority buyouts, the fund’s flexible investment approach will facilitate investment in opportunities where others cannot invest, as well as enabling Isara to take a longer-term view than traditional private equity investors. Practically, this means Isara can support the capital-intensive projects required to deliver radical improvement in the food industry which most investors are unable to deliver.

Isara’s investment strategy and process will be guided by identifying future portfolio companies with the biggest potential to deliver impact aligned with ESG, positively addressing the significant obstacles facing supply chains in the food sector.

Michael Rice, Partner at Isara, commented: “We are on the cusp of a potential food crisis in the United Kingdom. We believe that existing food production and supply chains have become inherently inefficient, and are under unsustainable levels of strain from a number of factors including the coronavirus crisis, increasing energy costs, food inflation and financial market volatility.

At Isara, our fund will be used to champion increasing the efficiency and sustainability of food systems, seeking to addressing the challenges of long-term underinvestment, labour supply challenges, supply chain security and sustainability. Not only is this good business, but this will also create seismic benefits for the wider economy and, ultimately, the sector’s impact on the planet.”