Sun World International LLC announced May 6 the sale of its leased and owned California farming properties, largely grape vineyards, to an unnamed investor group, which will own the farms and market the fruit under a new name, Famous Vineyards.

Merrill Dibble, chief executive officer of Sun World, told The Produce News that the expectation is that the transfer of the properties will be completed over the next few months, with Sun World continuing to market the grapes from Coachella until that deal is completed and the harvest shifts to the San Joaquin Valley, typically in late June or early July. At that point, the sales and marketing of the table grapes will be transitioned to Famous Vineyards.Merrill Dibble

Sun World Vice President of Sales Jason Fuller has accepted the same position with Famous Vineyards. He is tasked with building a sales team, but Dibble said the expectation is that the majority of the Sun World sales and marketing team will transition to the new company.

A press release dated May 6 speculated that Famous Vineyards will announce staffing decisions within about 10 days. Dibble said he will remain in his current position through the transition.

The announcement also noted that the sale of the land shifts Sun World's resources to Sun World Innovations, the company's technology, breeding and licensing business. Sun World is owned by Renewable Resources Group LLC, a California-based asset management firm specializing in sustainable investing.

"We're convinced of our team's limitless potential to break new ground in fruit breeding and genetics," David Marguleas, Sun World's executive vice president and president of Sun World Innovations, said in the press release. "By focusing additional investment on this side of the business, we intend to accelerate growth in a meaningful way."

In an interview, Marguleas told The Produce News that Sun World's table grape and tree fruit breeding program has been developing varieties for more than three decades and has one of the most robust private fruit breeding programs in California. The program has developed many very popular grape varieties, including Sugraone, which launched the program in the 1970s and is still a big producer.

Other popular table grape varieties developed by the Sun World breeding team include Autumn Crisp, Scarlotta Seedless and Midnight Beauty. Marguleas said the breeding program has a number of new seedless varieties nearing release.

But he added that Sun World Innovations is going beyond varietal development and is striving to be a conduit between the 1,500 licensed growers of its varieties around the world and the new technologies emerging to help growers efficiently farm and market their crops.

Sun World Innovations has identified about 120 companies working on promising new precision ag technologies from automation to drones to sensors.

"We have trialed about 10 percent of these new technologies, with many showing great promise, but we have a lot more work to do," Marguleas said.

Included in the transaction are Sun World's farmland in California's San Joaquin and Coachella valleys. The understanding is that the acquired land will continue to be farmed for table grapes. Famous Vineyards, in fact, has contracted with the Sun Pacific farming operation, headquartered in Bakersfield, CA, to farm the grape vineyards.

Longtime San Joaquin Valley grower Berne Evans is founder and CEO of Sun Pacific, and it is rumored that he is involved in the investor group that bought the Sun World property, though that was not announced nor mentioned by Dibble, Marguleas or a Sun Pacific representative.

Sun Pacific Marketing Cooperative in Pasadena, CA, is a separate but affiliated entity that currently markets the output of Sun Pacific's growing operations, including its Cutie brand mandarins, citrus and grapes.

In the press release, Dibble said, "As enthusiastic as we are about advancing our breeding and licensing business, we're mindful of Sun World's farming heritage and the sale of this land was a carefully considered decision. Our understanding that the new owner plans to farm the acreage was critical to us in terms of our colleagues' continued employment."

The company retains its Sun World brand, global fruit and intellectual property licensing business involving its fruit variety development program. All business entities will be operated as Sun World Innovations at transaction close and will be headquartered in Palm Desert, CA.

About four years ago, Sun World limited its focus to table grapes, eliminating the other crops it grew and marketed including watermelons, strawberries and peppers.