0
REGINA — A B.C.-based company is investing $60 million to $70 million in Saskatchewan by purchasing four specialty grains and pulse crops processing facilities and building two more plants in Regina and Saskatoon later this year.
Earlier this month, ILTA Grain Inc. of Surrey, B.C., announced the acquisition for an undisclosed amount of four specialty grain and pulse facilities from Parkland Pulse Grain Co. Ltd. of North Battleford, effective Jan. 15.
The acquisition, made through its subsidiary ILTA Processing Inc., includes two facilities in North Battleford, and one each in Swift Current and Cutknife.
The 45 employees of Parkland will join ILTA staff, the company said in a press release. Parkland Pulse Grain group of companies were started by Cyril Fransoo, a pioneer in the western Canadian specialty crop industry. His son, Gilles Fransoo, will join the new company, the release said.
“The Fransoo family started the business 24 years ago and we’ve been involved with them in a number of ways over the years,’’ said Dan Burneski, president of ILTA Grain. “(The Fransoo family) decided it was time to make arrangements for retirement, and we saw it as an opportunity to acquire the company.’’
In fact, the acquisition marks a return to the province for ILTA, which was formed last year by Burneski and Gerald Donkersgoed. The pair managed the specialty crop export firm, Finora, until it was sold by its Hong Kong owners, Noble Group, to Alliance Grain Traders of Regina in 2009-10. Finora had operated four specialty grains plants in Saskatchewan and Alberta, which were acquired by Alliance Grain Traders.
ILTA also has plans to expand its operations in the province with two new plants in Regina and Saskatoon. “We’ll be building in each location a new modern, efficient facility for processing specialty grains and pulses for human consumption for export all over the world.’’
Each plant will have about 250,000 tonnes a year of processing capacity and will cost about $15 million to build, Burneski said. Each plant will employ about 15 people.
Both plants will be located near major rail lines, including the Global Transportation Hub west of Regina. “We’re well along in the process of acquiring the land and hope to start construction in the summer,” Burneski said. “It takes eight to 12 months to complete each one, so they’ll be ready in late 2012 or early 2013.’’
Burneski said he looks forward to competing with Alliance Grain Traders, the publicly traded, Regina-based company headed by Murad Al-Katib, which is the dominant pulse and specialty crop processor in the industry.
“We’ve been in this business for 25 years,’’ Burneski said. “We’re not afraid of them at all.’’
bjohnstone@leaderpost.com
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
Read more:
http://www.leaderpost.com/business/I...#ixzz1kiWzoIe1
Prev
Linear Mode
