After three years, the time has finally come. The contract for the new property has been signed and the entry in the land register has been made. It has been a long and rocky road, but now we are all the more pleased that the reforestation of Finca Alicia will soon provide the anteater with new hiking trails.
Our Chairman Michael Ott explains the challenges we faced during this time:
The “land acquisition” project began in 2014, when we considered initiating another reforestation project. Marcus Eichenlaub, who had conducted research in Monte Alto in the past for his thesis, traveled to Costa Rica in December 2014 – January 2015 and visited potential properties at the Fundación Monte Alto.
Initially, three areas were identified that were of interest: Finca Eliza (49ha), Finca Pineda (over 50ha) and Finca del Suizo (4ha). The Finca del Suizo was ruled out due to its small size.
That’s why Finca Pineda, which our local partner recommended as an important addition, seemed very interesting at first. Unfortunately, the Pinedas didn’t want to sell, so in January 2015 we initially agreed internally on Finca Eliza.
After further discussions and planning with Miguel Mendez from the Fundación Monte Alto, we submitted a letter of intent at the beginning of May 2015 for forwarding to the sellers to acquire Finca Eliza, which is located to the west of the property we have now acquired. The plan was to buy Finca Eliza in several tranches of 10 hectares each, at a price of USD 5,000/ha, i.e. a total of USD 240,000. However, at the end of May 2015, we learned that Finca Eliza was being sold for a total price of USD 365,000. was sold to an orange grower.
Miguel then told us about two other plots: one plot (Finca Pacheco) with 7 ha was located within the protected area, was already wooded and therefore not interesting for our goals.
The second property, the Finca Alicia with initially 8.3 hectares, was much more interesting because it was located outside the protected area on the boundary of the protected area and the possibility of extending the protected area externally arose through an acquisition. We then received further pictures and site plans of Finca Alicia from our local contact Miguel. In January 2016, we sent the owner, Ms. Alicia Mendez Cruz, a letter of intent.
Unfortunately, not much had happened by the middle of 2016, so the deadline for the purchase option was extended. In the meantime, our notary strongly advised us to have the property remeasured. This turned out to be an important clue, because the surveyor we hired measured an area of only about 7 hectares – and thus a price difference of USD 6,000! Fortunately, the seller accepted this, and the value of the property as a biological corridor between the conservation area and an adjoining piece of woodland was not affected. In February 2017, the new dimensions were entered in the land register so that the purchase process could proceed.
At the same time, an extended special power of attorney was required for our notary, as he could only sign the purchase contract on our behalf with a special power of attorney. No sooner said than done, we thought, but it wasn’t that easy, because this power of attorney had to be signed at the CR embassy in Berlin… Unfortunately, the embassy moved at the beginning of April 2017 and could only be reached by phone or email with difficulty until the beginning of June. The consul was also on vacation and so we were only able to send the power of attorney to our notary in June. At the end of August, we finally received the news that all the formalities had been settled, the necessary declarations that the property was unencumbered had been submitted and we could transfer the money.
But that wasn’t so easy either, because the seller didn’t want an escrow payment, she just wanted the money in her account when she signed the contract. No security for us, of course – the money gone and she doesn’t sign…. Thank God our notary found a solution by suggesting to put a check on the table while she signed – she agreed.
So we transferred the money at the end of August, at a 2½ -year high exchange rate of the euro against the dollar, which ultimately “gilded” the delay in the purchase. Just six months ago, the property would have been 6,000 euros more expensive simply due to the exchange rate. This allowed us to conserve our reserves, and on September 8, 2017, after 3 years, the purchase of the property finally came to a happy end with the signing of the purchase contract.
Now we can start with the reforestation measures.
