Limoneira, a US-based agribusiness firm, has acquired a privately owned company Associated Citrus Packers (ACP) of Arizona in a deal valued at around $18.6m.
ACP owns about 1,300 acres of property in Yuma, Arizona, comprising approximately 950 acres of lemon orchards, 350 acres of other crops and facilities and it also has access to the Colorado River for crop irrigation.
The acquisition is expected to provide Limoneira with operating profit during the fourth quarter of 2013 and first quarter of 2014 due to high profit margins on lemons grown on its orchards over lemons that are procured from third party growers.
ACP will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Limoneira and its senior management will play a key role in the management of the combined organization.
Limoneira president and CEO Harold Edwards said that this acquisition is in-line with Limoneira's long-term growth strategy to expand its portfolio of quality citrus acreage.
"We are very pleased that several members of Associated Citrus Packers will be joining the Limoneira team following the acquisition, and we are confident that ACP will be an important contributor to our top and bottom line growth."
"We continue to see a strong pipeline of additional acquisition opportunities and look forward to further expanding our business through acquisitions as well as organic growth in coming years. We expect this acquisition to be accretive to our earnings in fiscal years 2013 and 2014," Edwards added.
Headquartered in Santa Paula, California, Limoneira is a producer of lemons, avocados, oranges, specialty citrus and other crops.
