Emerging manager Lios Partners plans to bump up size of inaugural fund

Lios Partners, recently launched by Jonathan Belair, a one-time OMERS Private Equity executive, is in the market with a first-time buyout offering, sources told Buyouts.

The target for Lios Partners Fund I is $200 million, sources said. The hard-cap is $300 million.

Due to interest shown by limited partners, the Toronto private equity firm is expected to increase the fund’s size, sources said. Lios declined to comment.

Belair created Lios last year with a focus on disruption in the food industry. The thesis is the industry faces major structural challenges, including limited and depleting resources that impair its ability to feed a growing population. They also include the effects of climate change, food waste and shifting consumer preferences.

To address challenges, the firm will invest in opportunities that can help transform the food system and make it more sustainable and transparent.

In practice, Lios will make control or significant minority investments, typically ranging from $25 million to $50 million, in mid-market food and agriculture companies operating throughout the value chain. These will be established, ready-to-scale businesses positioned to influence and accelerate change.

Dealflow will be sourced across the US and Canada and in sectors like agriculture and natural food production, value-added processing and ingredients and distribution and retail. Fund I could begin investing as early as the spring, sources said.

Interest in Lios’ offering may owe to a growing appetite among LPs for return-generating opportunities in harmony with their ESG policies. An October 2021 survey by HarbourVest Partners found 72 percent of investors plan to raise their allocation targets for sustainability and impact investing within the next two years.

Before Lios, Belair was a senior executive with McCain Foods, the world’s largest maker of frozen potato products. Over five years, he led global M&A, strategy and venture capital investing, as well as McCain’s sustainability and ESG program.

From 2011 to 2016, Belair was a director of OMERS Private Equity, working in the North American direct buyout team. He sat on the boards of several portfolio companies, including plastics supplier Husky Injection Molding Systems, sold in 2018 to Platinum Equity for $3.85 billion.

Belair, Lios’ managing partner, shares leadership with two founding partners, Craig Hanna and James Rickert.

Hanna was previously the head of Clearview Advisory, an agri-food mid-market advisory firm, and a senior executive at SunOpta, a plant-based food and organic ingredients business. Rickert was a managing partner of Brookfield Asset Management and part of its infrastructure group.

Other team members include partner advisers Don Morrison and Kelly Marshall, both former executive vice presidents with OMERS Private Markets. Marshall was also a Brookfield managing partner. Lios’ technical adviser is Han van den Hoek, the ex-chief agriculture officer of McCain Foods.