Case study 02 · Permanent-crop project finance

Olive Oil Estate

Greenfield, integrated: grow the fruit, mill the oil, sell it

Built the full financial development of a greenfield olive estate, from a bare field to a financed, producing operation.
Role: financial structuring, project economics and financing · Fractional CFO engagement · recast at California current-market scale

100 ha
Planted from scratch
(247 acres, ~165K trees)
US + local
Financing secured
and equipment installed
14.6%
Project IRR, unlevered
(live, base case)
7.8x
EV / EBITDA, total
(live, base case)

Executive summary

From a bare field to a financed, producing estate

A greenfield olive estate, taken from zero to a financed, operating business on an integrated model: mine the capital stack to the orchard's biological curve, plant it, mill the oil on site, and sell it.

I built the entire financial development of this investment from the ground up. Starting from scratch, I modeled the project economics around the orchard's yield curve, structured the capital, and secured the financing from both a US-based lender and local sources. The engagement ran through to installing all the processing equipment and bringing the estate into production. My participation was direct and hands-on across the full financial build of the investment.

The challenge that shapes a permanent crop is time: the trees produce nothing for the first years, so the financing has to carry the project through a dry stretch before any cash comes back. The structure answers that directly. Interest is capitalized through a grace period while the orchard establishes, principal is then stepped to match the yield ramp, and the plantation is revalued upward as it matures, so the collateral base grows while the loan amortizes down.

About the figures: the interactive model below recasts that same financial framework at California current-market scale, drawn from UC cost studies, so the economics read clearly in a US context. Figures and identifying details are illustrative.

The model

The financial framework, made live

Four levers drive the whole build: the orchard, the debt schedule matched to the biology, the collateral, and the valuation all recalculate. Nothing to download, it runs on the page.

EVOO price$25
$12USD / gal$40
Mature yield210
120gal / acre280
WACC9.00%
6%discount rate13%
Interest rate8.00%
5%facility12%
EBITDA · mature
$770K
50% margin
Project NPV
$1.7M
operations at WACC
Project IRR
14.6%
vs 10.7% target
Minimum DSCR
1.28x
peak LTV 41%

What the analysis showed

Where the structure does the work

01

Debt matched to the biology

Nothing is harvested for the first two years, so a level loan would choke the project. Interest is capitalized through the grace period and principal is stepped to the yield ramp, so debt service arrives only once the trees pay for it.

02

Collateral that grows

A young orchard is worth little; a mature one is worth multiples more. Revaluing the plantation as it establishes lifts the borrowing base from about 41% loan-to-value down toward the teens, exactly as the loan amortizes.

03

Debt is the binding constraint, not operations

Operating break-even is near $13 a gallon, so the orchard covers its costs easily. The break-even that matters is debt service, around $23.50, close to the base price. The branded estate premium is what buys the cushion.