Agriculture Acquisitions in Florida

Amerivest Group advised on the sale of a long-established wholesale nursery business in Florida, facilitating a transaction between a privately held seller and an unnamed individual buyer. The nursery — with decades of production greenhouses and nationwide/international customers — was listed at $6,299,000.

Gevo, Inc. has acquired Cultivate Agricultural Intelligence, LLC (CultivateAI) for $6 million in cash, with potential additional earn-out payments, and will fold the business into its Verity subsidiary. CultivateAI is a cloud-based SaaS provider of agricultural data and analytics (expected 2024 revenue $1.7 million) that Gevo plans to combine with Verity's carbon accounting tools to expand revenue streams and accelerate capability development.

Singapore-based shrimp genetics company SyAqua, which is majority-owned by Luxembourg-headquartered private equity firm Ocean 14 Capital, has acquired Mims, Florida–based Primo Broodstock. The acquisition expands SyAqua’s U.S. broodstock production capacity and genetic resources, enhancing strain security and enabling increased supply to major shrimp-producing markets.

Crescentia Capital’s portfolio company Synsus Private Label Partners has acquired AmegA Sciences, LLC and React Industries, LLC, combining the businesses into Synsus’s manufacturing platform. The acquisition expands Synsus’s specialty liquid fertilizer, adjuvant and private-label chemical manufacturing footprint and product offerings for agriculture, turf & ornamental, and direct-to-consumer markets.

Private equity firm Sandton Capital Partners has acquired Vindara from vertical farming operator Kalera for an undisclosed sum. Vindara, an Orlando-based developer of seed varieties and genomics-driven breeding technology for vertical and controlled-environment agriculture, will continue to be led by Co‑Founder and CEO Dr. Jade Stinson as Sandton provides capital to accelerate R&D and commercial growth.

Paine Schwartz Partners completed a strategic investment through its Food Chain Fund VI in HGS BioScience (formerly Humic Growth Solutions), a Jacksonville-based manufacturer of extracted humic and fulvic acid products. The investment (terms undisclosed) will support the company's growth, product innovation and operational scaling across its six North American manufacturing sites and global distribution footprint.

PROFILE Products LLC has acquired Florikan ESA LLC, a Sarasota-based manufacturer, blender and distributor of controlled-release fertilizers. The transaction (closed Oct. 15, 2021) includes all Florikan product lines and facilities — including a manufacturing facility and expanding distribution center in Bowling Green, Florida — and aims to expand PROFILE's sustainable agronomic product portfolio; financial terms were not disclosed and all Florikan employees will remain in their roles.

Arbor Vita8, a seed-to-sale hemp processor based in Phenix City, Alabama, has acquired Mobile Hemp Drying Company, a Florida-based builder, lessor and distributor of mobile hemp dryers, and formed a new subsidiary, Arbor Vita8 Dry, LLC (AV8D). The acquisition expands Arbor Vita8's on-farm drying capabilities, enabling mobile drying services across the Southeast and planned national rollout to reduce crop loss and speed post-harvest processing for hemp farmers.

4Cable TV International, Inc. completed the acquisition of 100% of CIGN, LLC effective February 9, 2021 for $10.0 million consideration (70% Series B preferred stock, 30% promissory note). The acquisition brings a 6-acre Cravo greenhouse and germination nursery in Homestead/Miami, Florida into 4Cable's strategy to become a vertically integrated CBD/hemp business; CIGN was previously owned by affiliates (including Michael Feldenkrais, who indirectly owned 50%).

TELUS launched a dedicated TELUS Agriculture business unit and consolidated a suite of agtech acquisitions, including AFS Technologies and Agrian, along with AGIntegrated, Decisive Farming, Farm At Hand, Muddy Boots, TKXS and Feedlot Health Management Solutions. The acquisitions create an integrated digital agriculture offering spanning farm management, precision agronomy, supply-chain and traceability tools, and analytics to optimize the global food value chain.

New York-based Blue Road Capital has acquired B&W Quality Growers, a vertically-integrated producer of baby and specialty leafy greens headquartered in Fellsmere, Florida, from Boyne Capital. Blue Road intends to use B&W as a platform to scale its specialty leafy greens business and pursue add-on opportunities across retail, foodservice, wholesale, and specialty channels.