The Montana Ranch market shows optimism in spite of economic downturn…
Source: Daily Chronicle, written by By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer
The sprawling Sun Ranch in Madison County, which became a model for sustainable land management under the ownership of millionaire Roger Lang, has been bought by the CEO of a multinational mining company.
Sun Ranch Partners purchased the 18,500-acre ranch near Cameron on Friday, Madison County Clerk and Recorder Peggy Kaatz said Monday. According to information filed with the Secretary of State’s office, Sun Ranch Partners is managed by Richard C. Adkerson, CEO of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. Sun Ranch Partners was created on Jan. 21, according to the Secretary of State.
Adkerson, 62, has held his position with the mining company since 2003, and is listed as one of the highest paid executives in America by Forbes and Fortune magazines. He is also listed by Business Week as the director of FM Properties, Inc., a real estate investment and development company.
Former-owner Lang purchased the ranch from actor Steven Seagal in 1998 and put the property under a unique management plan meant to promote wildlife and open space on the riverside property while continuing ranch operations. He put a vast majority of the ranch under a conservation easement, then carved out 10 home lots and put them on the market for between $5 million and $8 million. It was an idea he hoped could make conservation profitable and lead to 1 million acres being put under conservation over the next 10 years, he told the Chronicle in 2008.
But last April Lang switched gears and put the ranch on the market for $55 million. He told the Chronicle that the economic downturn led him to try to sell the ranch, with the conservation easements in place, and use the money to buy new land. As of last Friday, the sale price for the ranch was listed at $42 million.
“I’ve achieved what I’ve wanted to do there,” Lang told the Chronicle last year. “It’s 98 percent under conservation easement, so I feel very, very good about that.”
Adam DeFanti, vice president of marketing for Sun Ranch, told the Chronicle at the time that the purchase would not affect conservation easements in place.
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For information about Montana Ranches for sale, please contact Tracy Raich, Associate Broker Sotheby’s International Realty in Livingston Montana: tracyraich.com
