Angelina Plantation now in new hands

Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 19, 2006

MONTEREY&8212; The 26,236-acre farm, Angelina Plantation, was sold Sept. 26 for $31 million.

The buyers were a private group of investors from Indiana who wish to remain anonymous, but hired Halderman Farm Management, an Indiana-based company, to continue farming the property.

According to the document of sale, the farm management company signed the document on behalf of the owners and has control of all assets, including farming operations, crop storage operations and crop dusting operations the plantation provides for the farm as well as other farmers in Concordia and neighboring parishes.

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HMF President Howard Halderman and Vice President Matthew Rekeweg said they would continue the work of former owner and WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers.

Ebbers was forced to sell the property after being found guilty of fraud and conspiracy in July 2005, in connection with WorldCom&8217;s $11 billion false financial reporting scandal.

Work will consist mostly of precision leveling of the 23,000 tillable acres on the property Halderman said.

The leveling would improve the irrigation methods used to grow the plantations crops like soybeans, rice and crawfish, Halderman said.