Realty Income and Plenty Announce Strategic Alliance for up to $1 Billion of Vertical Farm Development

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Feb 21, 2023, 09:00 ET

Initial investment will support Plenty's development of the world's largest indoor vertical farm campus

SAN DIEGO and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income, NYSE: O), The Monthly Dividend Company^®, and Plenty Unlimited Inc. ("Plenty") today announced that they have entered into a strategic real estate alliance to support the development of Plenty's indoor vertical farms. Under the terms of the agreement, Realty Income will acquire and provide development funding for properties that will house Plenty's indoor farms. These properties will be leased to Plenty under long-term net leases. The agreement provides for up to $1 billion of development opportunities.

As the initial transaction of the alliance, Realty Income has agreed to acquire the land and provide development funding for the first farm of Plenty's indoor vertical farm campus near Richmond, Virginia, which was announced last year. Plenty expects the future multi-farm campus to deliver more than 20 million pounds of produce across multiple crops annually. The first farm to be developed on the campus will grow strawberries with Plenty partner Driscoll's and initially serve the Northeast market. Plenty already supplies leading grocers on the West Coast and will further expand its California footprint to include Walmart, which is also an equity investor in the company, when it launches its Compton farm in Los Angeles County.

"We are pleased to announce this strategic relationship with Plenty – whose sustainable business practices align with Realty Income's values, which include giving more than we take in our community and environment," said Sumit Roy, Realty Income's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our entry into agriculture technology provides another potential growth opportunity for our company. Over time, we aspire to expand our collaboration with Plenty internationally in markets of mutual interest."

"Scale is a critical component of advancing indoor farming's role as a core contributor to our global food supply. Teaming up with Realty Income is a significant step forward in accelerating the deployment of our farms with vertical farm facilities that are purpose-built to support Plenty's proprietary growing technology," said Arama Kukutai, Plenty's Chief Executive Officer. "The predictability and positive unit economics of Plenty's farms make it possible for us to utilize more traditional forms of funding, such as this strategic alliance with Realty Income. This represents an advancement in the way indoor farming assets are capitalized and paves the way for their development as an asset class."

About Realty Income
Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company^®, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats^® index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a REIT, and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 11,700 real estate properties primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 632 consecutive common stock monthly dividends throughout its 54-year operating history and increased the dividend 119 times since Realty Income's public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O). Additional information about the company can be obtained from the corporate website at www.realtyincome.com.

About Plenty
Plenty is rewriting the rules of agriculture through its technology platform that can grow fresh produce anywhere in the world, year-round, with peak-season quality and up to 350x more yield per acre than conventional farms. Plenty's proprietary approach preserves the world's natural resources, makes fresh produce available to all communities and creates resilience in our food systems against weather, location, pests and climate. Plenty operates the largest of its kind indoor plant science research facility in Laramie, Wyoming; the world's most advanced, vertical, indoor farm in Compton, California; and is building the world's largest indoor vertical farm campus near Richmond, Virginia. For more information, follow Plenty on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or LinkedIn, or visit www.plenty.ag.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this press release, the words "estimated," "anticipated," "expect," "believe," "intend," "potential," "aspire," "endeavor," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements also include discussions of Realty Income and Plenty's business and portfolio including future operations and results, strategy, growth opportunities, plans, intentions of management, strategic alliance and development opportunities, funding, closing, vertical farming (including the development of a vertical farm campus, production capacity, crops, and markets and clients served), and agriculture technology. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions about us, which may cause our actual future results to differ materially from expected results. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are, among others, our continued qualification as a real estate investment trust; general domestic and foreign business and economic conditions; competition; fluctuating interest and currency rates; access to debt and equity capital markets; continued volatility and uncertainty in the credit markets and broader financial markets; other risks inherent in the real estate business including our clients' defaults under leases, potential liability relating to environmental matters, illiquidity of real estate investments, and potential damages from natural disasters; impairments in the value of our real estate assets; changes in income tax laws and rates; the continued evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to limit its spread, and its impacts on us, our business, our clients (including those in the theater industry), or the economy generally; the timing and pace of reopening efforts at the local, state and national level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and developments, such as the unexpected surges in COVID-19 cases, that cause a delay in or postponement of reopenings; the outcome of any legal proceedings to which we are a party or which may occur in the future; acts of terrorism and war; any effects of uncertainties regarding whether the anticipated benefits or results of our merger with VEREIT, Inc. will be achieved; and those additional risks and factors discussed in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Those forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future plans and performance and speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual plans and operating results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in this press release. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date these statements were made.

SOURCE Realty Income Corporation