Investor Profile: Matthew Swanson (BA '97), Proterra Investment Partners

I am a Managing Director at Proterra Investment Partners, an alternative investment firm based in the Twin Cities focused on the natural resource sectors of agriculture, food, and metals and mining.  My firm spun out of Black River Asset Management (formerly a subsidiary of Cargill) in 2016 and we’ve got over 60 employees in 7 different offices around the world.  I am one of the leaders of our credit strategy at Proterra - a private debt strategy that offers financing to middle-market agribusiness customers in North America.  We finance firms throughout the ag value chain including first-stage and value-add processors, integrated producers and other companies seeking to meet the evolving needs of today’s consumer.  We generally invest between $10 million and $50 million in junior capital per credit and our loan proceeds are being used for acquisitions, plant expansions, recapitalizations and even greenfield development.  While the private debt space has seen significant inflows of capital over the past decade, our strategy is a niche one – our investment professionals are experts in the sector and our focus on food and agribusiness is a narrow one.  We look to work with both sponsored (private-equity owned) and non-sponsored (e.g. family-owned businesses, cooperatives and other private companies) firms and have a number of unique and exclusive relationships with the most active senior lenders in the space.

It's a fascinating time to be part of the sector and there's a lot going on in that requires significant capital.  For example, consumers are increasingly concerned about where their food comes from (and no, I don’t mean whether that late night pizza comes from Pizza House or Cottage Inn), how it is produced, and who is growing it.  That concern translates into a greater emphasis on organics, protein consumption, environmental sustainability, food safety and animal welfare.  To give you an example of the scale of the capital needed in the sector, a couple of years ago, over 200 food companies pledged to transition their egg production to cage free by the year 2025.  To fully meet food company pledges by 2025, nearly three-quarters of the U.S. layer flock will need to be transitioned at an estimated cost of $10 billion.  And that's just one example. 

I came to my current role after spending about a decade working in private equity and, before that, about a decade working as an attorney in private practice.  I have greatly enjoyed working in the sector and it’s a great community to be part of (both locally here in Minnesota and throughout the United States).  Over the past few years, I have had hundreds of meetings with investors, advisors, lenders and executives and I always seek out fellow UofM alums.  It’s a great network that we have and always rewarding when I can  make a personal connection with other professionals around our shared experience.  I'm happy to connect with fellow alums who work in food and ag or who are looking to learn more about it. Contact Matthew.