

American Farmland Company, a US farmland real estate investment trust (REIT), will become the second New York Stock Exchange-listed agri REIT, after Farmland Partners.
The company on Friday filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The total number of shares to be sold and price per share were not disclosed.
The REIT manages 17 farms across California, Illinois and Florida including five mature permanent crop farms, two speciality vegetable row crop farms, four commodity row crop farms and six farms that are still early on in the development cycle.
Founded in 2009, the New York-based company booked $8 million in sales for the 12 months ended 31 March.
Deutsche Bank, Raymond James and FBR Capital Markets are the joint bookrunners on the deal, the filings show.
According to American Farmland Company, the bulk of the proceeds will be used to fund new acquisitions. $20.4 million of the proceeds from this offering will be used to pay down of its revolving credit facility, $24.7 million will be used to fund two new acquisitions and $8 million for development costs for the company’s existing properties.
The REIT has executed a definitive purchase and sale agreement for $19.4 million with a California pistachio farm and $5.3 million with an almond farm also based in California.
American Farmland Company hired Prudential Agricultural Investments (PAI) as its sub-adviser in late 2011.
The REIT showed interest in an IPO in March.
The last farm-focused REIT was Farmland Partners, which went public in April 2014 and now trades 16 percent below its offer price.