June 29, 2015

Real estate investment trust (REIT) Gladstone Land, has announced it has acquired two Florida farms totaling 2,668 acres, consisting of 1,664 tillable acres for approximately $15.8 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gladstone entered into a five-year lease with the land’s current vegetable grower and marketer, which will offer annual escalations and two five-year extension options.

With this deal, the company now owns 36 farms across five U.S. states totaling 11,457 acres, valued at approximately $231 million. The acreage is mainly comprised of fruit and vegetable crops and permanent crops.

Gladstone Land has had a busy and productive 2015. In January of this year the U.S.-based REIT was able to meet a pledge it made the previous year to raise its payout, raising it 0.5 cents to 3.5 cents, bringing its annual payout to 0.42 cents and lifting its yield to 3.9% – surpassing the average yield of real estate investment stocks of 3.7%.

Then again in April, the company announced an increase of 14.3% to its monthly cash distribution for the months of April May and June of 2015, increasing its distribution by 33.3% for the year. Since its initial public offering in January 2013, the company has successfully paid out 28 consecutive month cash distributions on its common stock.

Most recently, Gladstone announced two separate purchase and sales agreements for a combined $58 million to acquire a total of 11 farming properties across California, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, and Nebraska. The first agreement was for five properties totaling 3,519 acres of irrigated cropland for $35 million, while the second was for six properties totaling 5,476 acres for $23 million.