The Sanan family's Padua Stables has sold its 275-acre farm near Lexington to the Borges Torrealba family of Brazil for $8.8 million.
The new buyer also purchased some of the farm's equipment for an additional $200,000, bringing to $9 million the total value of the transaction.
Satish Sanan said the Kentucky farm, which was purchased in 2008 for $4.2 million, was not on the market but was sold as part of an effort by Padua to cut back on the overhead for its operations that include a large farm in Ocala, Fla.
Sanan said Robert N. Clay, owner of Three Chimneys Farm, contacted Sanan about Torrealba's interest in the farm, which adjoins one of Three Chimney's properties in Central Kentucky. In November, it was announced that the Torrealba family, which operates TNT Stud in Brazil, had entered into a partnership with Three Chimneys.
"This farm was not listed," Sanan said. "Our objective all along, and what we have been trying to do for the last five years, was to sell my big monument (farm) in Ocala. We tried everything and it just hasn't sold. We had a buyer for $27 million or whatever and (the) guy backed out. We gave him his deposit back and then the market crashed.
"Robert (Clay) called and said Torrealba wants to look at your farm. I said, 'Fine, you show him around.' He made an offer and we negotiated a price. Given the financial constraints and the current market we took it."
Estimating that it costs $1.5 million to $2 million a year just to maintain the Ocala farm, Sanan said the upkeep of both facilities was too much in today's marketplace. He also said Padua is in the process of cutting back on the large number of horses it owns, but there are no plans to exit the Thoroughbred industry. Sanan said his family has invested more than $150 million in horses and property.
"We are going to scale back, but I love the business too much to walk away from it," he said. "We have a lot of horses and mares and 50-60% of them are no good in today's market. We are going to concentrate on quality."
The Kentucky acres purchased by Torrealba are protected from development by conservation easements through the Purchase of Development Rights program, according to Paulick Report, which first reported the sale of the farm.