February 9, 2017

Wonderful Citrus has announced the acquisition of three assets: Fort Pierce, Florida-based DNE Fruit, the largest citrus marketer in Florida; DNE International, the largest citrus exporter in Florida; and the assets of World Pack Cold Storage – a division of DNE Imports.

Based in Delano, California, Wonderful Citrus is a part of the privately held, $4.8 billion Wonderful Company which includes Wonderful Pistachios, POM Wonderful, Wonderful Halos, FIJI Water, JUSTIN Wine Products, Wonderful Almonds, and Telafora Flower delivery service. Wonderful Citrus is the leading U.S. grower, shipper, packer, and distributor of clementine, mandarin, navel, and Valencia oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits and other fruits.

Under the terms of the combined deals, Wonderful Citrus will be acquiring DNE’s citrus marketing and importing business and World Pack’s cold storage, bagging, repacking, and distribution center located in New Jersey.

Together with Wonderful Citrus’ existing assets, the completion of these deals will make Wonderful Citrus the top grapefruit distributor in the U.S., along with boosting the company to be the top importer of counter-seasonal citrus products in the country.

“The addition of DNE and World Pack to the Wonderful Citrus family significantly enhances our ability to serve customers year-round with a variety of fresh citrus offerings,” said David Krause, president of Wonderful Citrus. “We’re thrilled that this makes us the top grapefruit distributor in America and allows us to serve as the exclusive marketer for all of DNE’s Florida citrus.”

DNE has sold fruit under the well-known Ocean Spray label through a strategic alliance formed in 1997. It also has served as the sales arm of Bernard Egan & Co., which operates farms across Florida including 12,000 acres of citrus groves. However, there are no plans by Wonderful Citrus to make changes to labels or brands under DNE, Mark Carmel, director of corporate communications at Wonderful, told The Packer.

Additionally, DNE’s import programs are expected to remain in place.

“DNE has excellent relationships in most of the citrus-producing countries throughout the world, including but not limited to Chile, Peru, South Africa, Australia, Spain and Morocco,” said Carmel. However, Wonderful did express its intention to expand these initiatives.

After the closing of the deal, DNE’s sales staff will be offered positions by Wonderful Citrus, and Mark Hanks, DNE’s vice president of sales and marketing will remain in his position. However, under Wonderful Citrus’ structure, he will be working under the new title of senior director of sales. Additionally, DNE World Fruit President Greg Nelson will remain with the company as an advisor.

Bold Moves

This bold move by Wonderful Citrus comes less than a year after the company announced in April 2016 that it had agreed to acquire I. Kunik Company – a Texas-based distributor of Persian limes grown in Mexico, and the operations of Mexican lime grower and global supplier, B&S Grupo Exportador S.A. de C.V. – both for undisclosed amounts.

Included in the agreements was the purchase of 1,944 acres of lime orchards in Veracruz and Puebla, Mexico, which brought Wonderful’s total line orchard acreage to 7,100 acres, making the company the largest producer of limes in the country of Mexico.

Located on the U.S.-Mexico border, I. Kunik, which includes a 65,000 square-foot packing and cold storage facility, became Wonderful’s main distribution center for Persian limes to the U.S. and Canadian markets. Meanwhile, B&S, which includes a 264,000 square-foot packing facility, will continue to grow, supply, and pack Persian limes for export to the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.

-Lynda Kiernan

Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com