Local Bounti, an indoor agriculture company combining aspects of vertical and greenhouse growing technologies, secured a total of up to $145 million of new financing across two sources. The first sources was an amendment to its credit facility agreements with Cargill Financial Services International and the second source was a sale-leaseback deal with an internally managed net-lease real estate investment trust. The combined financing supports Local Bounti’s growth plans and immediate efforts to increase production to meet accelerating demand for the company’s products.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of these transactions and the support they provide for Local Bounti’s growth ambitions,” Kathleen Valiasek, CFO of Local Bounti, said. “We remain laser focused on identifying opportunities where we can utilize our flexible stack and flow technology to deliver improved yields to meet the robust demand for locally grown and sustainable produce that we are seeing across our industry-leading distribution footprint.”
Local Bounti entered into an amendment to its existing credit agreement with Cargill to expand the facility from $170 million to up to $280 million per the terms and conditions of the agreement, including capital to fund construction at the company’s facilities in Georgia, Texas and Washington, subject to certain conditions. In consideration for the improved flexibility and the expanded size of the facility, Local Bounti issued Cargill five-year warrants to purchase up to 69.6 million shares of common stock with a per share exercise price of $1 per share, representing more than a 100% premium to Local Bounti’s current stock price.
Local Bounti also entered into an agreement with an internally managed net-lease real estate investment trust for the sale-leaseback of its two facilities located in Carpinteria, CA, and Oxnard, CA, for approximately $35 million. The closing of the sale-leaseback transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected in Q2/23.
