Gladstone Land Corporation Acquires Pecan Orchard in California
MCLEAN, VA - Plant-based diets continue to dominate today’s consumer habits. A big part of that diet consists of nut proteins, making Gladstone Land Corporation’s latest acquisition a strategic power move. The company recently announced it acquired 590 gross acres of pecan farmland in Kern County, California, for approximately $14.2 million.
“The acquisition of this pecan orchard adds a new permanent crop type to our portfolio and should result in another good, long-term investment for us,” said David Gladstone, President and CEO. “In addition, in connection with this transaction, we are forming a new relationship with a very seasoned grower who has been in the pecan business for many years. We are continuing to evaluate a good list of potential farms to buy as we work toward another strong year in 2020 after a record year of acquisitions in 2019. Our goal is to continue to buy great farms with strong tenants and to increase the distributions on our common stock each quarter.”
At $24,067 per acre, the farm consists of 554 planted acres of mature pecan trees. In connection with the acquisition, Gladstone Land also entered into a 15-year, triple-net leaseback agreement with the seller, as stated in the news release.
Gladstone’s latest move follows two previous acquisitions, one in January in Colorado and one in May in Nebraska.
“We like sale-leaseback transactions as it is a wonderful way for us to grow our portfolio, and it also frees up cash for our tenants to further grow their businesses. This acquisition is just that, and it gets us into a desirable farming region we have not entered before and forges a new relationship with a long-time farmer in the business,” said Bill Reiman, Managing Director. “We are excited about this farm because of its good water, soil, and microclimate. In addition, since we did not buy the trees but only the land, we view this as a lower-risk investment, further diversifying our California portfolio.”
Where will Gladstone touch down next? ANUK will report the latest.
