Alico Inc., which grows sugar cane and citrus, raises cattle, and manages land in Florida, has announced that it is acquiring three Florida citrus producers for a combined $363 million that will increase the company’s production to 10 million boxes of oranges per year, creating one of the country’s biggest orange suppliers. The three deals will include a total of 28,000 acres of land – of which, the largest deal is for Orange-Co. LP, which accounts for 20,263 acres purchased for $247 million. Alico will finance the deal with debt and the $97 million sale of its sugar cane assets. The other two deals were for Gator Grove, which closed in September, and Silver Nip Citrus, which was owned by Alico’s largest shareholder, 734 Investors, LLC. The deals come at a hard time for the Florida citrus industry which is dealing with the devastating effects of the spread of the bacterial disease citrus greening. Sales of orange juice continues to fall, landing at their lowest point in 16 years in the season that ended in September. U.S. consumers bought 37.05 million gallons of orange juice in the four weeks ending October 25th – down 9.4% from the same period a year before. Fruit processors are paying higher prices in order to keep their plants operating, and Alico plans to increase productivity by planting new trees on the land acquired.
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