Alico completes sugar land sale

FORT MYERS — Agribusiness firm Alico sold nearly 36,000 acres in Hendry County used for sugarcane production for $98 million to Global Ag Properties USA, an affiliate of Terra Land Company.

“These proceeds have been deposited with a qualified intermediary in anticipation of a potential tax deferred like-kind exchange,” Alico says in a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In connection with the sale, Fort Myers-based Alico also assigned the lease it had with U.S. Sugar to Global Ag on 30,600 acres for $9.8 million.

The sale means Alico will no longer be involved in sugarcane production, focusing instead on citrus and cattle. The move is one of the latest in a series of changes since a group of New York-based private equity firms acquired a majority stake in Alico from the heirs of Florida citrus baron Ben Hill Griffin Jr.