Select Harvests (ASX:SHV) is to acquire Agrico's 690 acre almond orchard in Victoria for $4.3 million.
The payment includes $3 million for the orchard and $1.3 million for the title to the 2013 crop.
The acquisition is earnings accretive from 2013.
The Agrico orchard is located directly adjacent to Select Harvest' Almond processing facility and in the Carina West complex of company owned/managed orchards.
The acquisition will be funded within existing facilities and reinforces Select Harvests strategy to capitalise on the rapidly growing consumption of almonds globally.
Agrico is already being managed by Select Harvests and its crops are only one third of th way through their mature production life and are cash generators with minimal ongoing capital expenditure.
With the acquisition of Agrico orchards, Select's yields are expected to be between 70% to 80% greater than last year.
The global almond price has also continued to strengthen increasing about 25% over recent months inclusive of the impact of the high Australian dollar.
Select Harvests has taken advantage of the increasing price and booked some forward sales of the 2013 crop.
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