

US real estate investment trust Gladstone Land is targeting $25 million in a preferred stock offering, according to recent SEC filings.
The company is offering 1 million shares of preferred stock with a monthly dividend at a 6.375 percent annual rate. Under the terms of the offering, the REIT must redeem the stock in full between October 2018 and 2021. The raise will be used to pay off existing debt and for other corporate purposes.
The company has bought roughly 70 acres of strawberry-producing farmland in Hillsbrorough Country, Florida for $1.7 million. The property is the REIT’s seventh farm in the state.
Nasdaq-traded Gladstone Land acquires and leases agricultural land, primarily in the speciality and permanent crop space. In a recent interview with Agri Investor, the company’s chief executive David Gladstone said that the company will continue to avoid the commercial row crop space, despite falling valuations.
“I don’t want to be a commodity crop-based fund [because] I don’t want to take that much risk. I’m not sure why people spend so much time and energy growing corn, when you can get the same mix of risk and return on the commodity exchanges,” he said.
The portfolio includes 23,927 acres comprising 49 farms in California, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Colorado, Nebraska and Arizona valued at a total of $344 million, according to SEC filings.