Indian River Exchange Packers (IREP) on Jan. 8 sold its Vero Beach, Florida, packinghouse to Diamond Drinks, a Pennsylvania drink manufacturing firm. The sales price was $4.5 million.
“Diamond Drinks will convert the packinghouse into a private drink mixing and bottling company,” said IREP President George Hamner. “They will also extrude and sell plastic bottles.”
IREP plans to continue packing fruit at the packinghouse until early March, “then move people and fruit to Egan Fruit Packing out in Fellsmere to finish the season,” Hamner said. “I will be involved with grower relations, export sales and other projects, although I will not be running day-to-day operations.”
Hamner, who will continue growing citrus, said Bernard Egan & Co. will pack his fruit in the future, and also plans to pack the fruit of others who used the IREP packinghouse.
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