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Limoneira Announces Sale of
Caldwell Ranch Property For $10 Million
- Transaction In- Line
with Long-Term Strategy of Divesting Valuable Non-Core Assets
and
Reinvesting Proceeds in
Agribusiness and Reducing Borrowings -
- Company has entered into
lemon packing, marketing, and sales agreement with purchaser
-
- Proceeds from the Sale
will be used to Reduce Borrowings and Expand Agribusiness
-
Santa Paula,
CA., February 3, 2011 – Limoneira Company (NASDAQ: LMNR), a
leading agribusiness with prime agricultural land and operations,
real estate and water rights throughout California, has closed on
the sale of its Rancho Refugio/Caldwell Ranch
property. The Company had been leasing and farming the
property until December 2010, at which time the Company entered
into an agreement to exercise its purchase option contained in the
lease and acquire the property for a purchase price of
approximately $6.5 million and concurrently sell the property for
$10 million. The purchase and the sale closed on
February 3, 2011. The Company realized a net gain of
approximately $1.3 million and net cash of $2.8 million after
selling and other closing costs.
The Rancho
Refugio/Caldwell Ranch property consists of approximately 450 acres
located north of Santa Barbara on the California
Coast. This property has approximately 210 acres of
agricultural plantings consisting of approximately 90 acres of
lemons and 120 acres of avocados. The Company has
entered into a lemon packing, marketing, and sales agreement with
the purchaser, for which the Company will earn certain
fees. In addition, the Company provides these services
for a contiguous ranch also owned by the buyer. These
agreements will partially offset the reduction in operating income
generated from the lemon and avocado revenue associated with the
Caldwell Ranch property.
Harold Edwards,
President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are
pleased with the terms of our sale of the Caldwell Ranch property,
which underscores the continued execution on our strategy to
monetize our non-strategic real estate
assets. Importantly, through our lemon packing,
marketing, and sales agreements with the new p
