Prima Wawona laid off 5,400 workers when it filed for bankruptcy in 2024San Joaquin Valley Sun | 16 April 2025Gerawan sues Maine pension system for details behind Prima Wawona’s collapse, bankruptcy
by Daniel Gligich
Central Valley farmer Dan Gerawan has sued the Maine Public Employees Retirement System to gain information about Prima Wawona, the now-bankrupt company that succeeded his family farming enterprise, Gerawan Farming and the private equity management firm that led to its demise.
The Maine Public Employees Retirement System, known as MainePERS, invested in major investing firm Paine Schwartz Partners and funded the firm’s acquisition of Wawona Packing in its merger with Gerawan Farming.
The backstory: Paine Schwartz acquired Gerawan Farming in 2019, merging it with Wawona Packing to create Prima Wawona, which became the largest stone fruit producer in the world.
Gerawan stayed on as CEO of the new company as part of the deal, but Paine Schwartz forced him out in December 2020.
Following Gerawan’s exit, Prima Wawona lost nearly all of its value over the following years, with private market holdings that MainePERS had in the company showing a 96% decrease in value.
Prima Wawona filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2023 and has since liquidated its land and equipment.
The big picture: The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Gerawan filed a Freedom of Information Act request with MainePERS in May of last year for any documents that Paine Schwartz provided to the pension manager.
Gerawan also requested any information related to investments that Paine Schwartz shared with the Maine PERS by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
MainePERS denied the Freedom of Information Act request, saying that the law allows certain records to be exempt if they include trade secrets or commercial or financial information regarding actual or potential private-market investments.
Gerawan responded by suing MainePERS, arguing in the lawsuit that the exemption MainePERS cited is moot since Prima Wawona went bankrupt.
Flashback: Gerawan sued Paine Schwartz in 2023 before Prima Wawona filed for bankruptcy, accusing the investment firm of purposefully tanking the farming giant for personal gain and to enrich McKinsey and Co., which has strong ties to Paine Schwartz.
Prima Wawona’s leadership later went on to claim that the company went bankrupt because of the 2020 creek fire, a Salmonella outbreak that same year and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gerawan and Paine Schwartz settled the lawsuit during bankruptcy proceedings.
What he’s saying: “Thousands of people lost their jobs and these are people that I knew since my teens,” Gerawan said to the Wall Street Journal. “I needed to find out exactly what happened.”
