Cobram Estate to Acquire California Olive Ranch in $173.5 Million Deal

Summary

Cobram Estate Olives has acquired California Olive Ranch for $173.5 mil­lion, cre­at­ing the largest olive oil pro­ducer in the United States and sig­nif­i­cantly expand­ing its California foot­print and cus­tomer base. The acqui­si­tion will com­bine research assets and tech­nol­ogy invest­ments, with con­cerns raised about poten­tial impacts on California agri­cul­ture and con­sumers due to fur­ther con­sol­i­da­tion in the indus­try.

Cobram Estate Olives has agreed to acquire California Olive Ranch for $173.5 mil­lion, cre­at­ing a com­bined entity that brings together Australia’s and the United States’ largest olive oil pro­duc­ers.

The trans­ac­tion, funded through a mix of cash, ven­dor notes and an earn-out, will more than dou­ble Cobram Estate’s California foot­print and sig­nif­i­cantly expand its cus­tomer base in the U.S. mar­ket.

“The acqui­si­tion of California Olive Ranch deliv­ers a com­pelling set of strate­gic and finan­cial ben­e­fits for Cobram Estate Olives,” said chair Rob McGavin.

“It imme­di­ately expands our California olive grow­ing foot­print from approx­i­mately 1,422 hectares to around 3,292 hectares of planted groves, while accel­er­at­ing sales growth through the addi­tion of well-estab­lished, pre­mium house­hold brands,” he added.

McGavin also said Cobram Estate Olives’ research assets, includ­ing Modern Olives and Oliv.iQ, would ben­e­fit from California Olive Ranch’s sig­nif­i­cant invest­ments in research and tech­nol­ogy, includ­ing satel­lite mon­i­tor­ing of its olive groves.

Formerly known as Boundary Bend, Cobram Estate Olives first set up shop in California in 2015, con­struct­ing a mill, bot­tling and stor­age facil­i­ties, and offices before begin­ning its search for groves.

Since then, Cobram Estate has become one of California’s largest olive oil pro­duc­ers, plant­ing the sec­ond-largest medium-den­sity olive grove in the United States in 2021.

The com­pany said it pro­duced 3 mil­lion liters of olive oil in California dur­ing the 2025/26 crop year and has com­mer­cial agree­ments to pur­chase an addi­tional 800,000 liters through­out the sea­son.

Unlike Cobram Estate Olives, which is pub­licly listed in Australia and sub­ject to detailed report­ing require­ments, California Olive Ranch does not pub­lish its pro­duc­tion fig­ures.

However, the com­pany man­ages 1,870 hectares of olive groves, 14 per­cent of which it owns out­right, with the remain­der under long-term leases. California Olive Ranch also sup­ple­ments its out­put by con­tract­ing with olive grow­ers across the state.

Despite its posi­tion as the lead­ing U.S. pro­ducer, about 30 per­cent of California Olive Ranch’s sales come from its California pro­duc­tion, with the bal­ance gen­er­ated by its Global Blend brands made from imported olive oils.

The acqui­si­tion will cre­ate by far the largest olive oil pro­ducer and seller in the United States by rev­enue. According to research firm Pristine Market Insights, California Olive Ranch ranks as the world’s twelfth-largest olive oil com­pany by rev­enue, while Cobram Estate ranks six­teenth.

While the finan­cial com­mu­nity hailed the deal, some California stake­hold­ers expressed con­cern that fur­ther con­sol­i­da­tion could favor Australian share­hold­ers at the expense of U.S. con­sumers.

“Is this ​‘big’ news that deserves ​‘con­grat­u­la­tions,’ or just more con­sol­i­da­tion within the agri­cul­tural indus­try and the global econ­omy?” wrote Kolston Christenson, a sales rep­re­sen­ta­tive at California-based Bioflora, which sells fer­til­izer and phy­tosan­i­tary prod­ucts, on LinkedIn.

“Olive oil prices have dropped more than 50 per­cent from last year’s peaks. When mar­kets feel stress, you see reac­tions,” he added. ​“Consolidation may ben­e­fit the merg­ers and acqui­si­tions com­mu­nity, but what does this move mean for California agri­cul­ture?”