Alliance Grain Traders Inc. (AGTI) has announced the purchase of Parent Seed Farms, a long-time merchandiser and processor of dry edible beans in St. Joseph, Manitoba.
Alliance is a large pulse trading organization with 14 facilities in Canada, the U.S., Turkey and Australia, and owner of SaskCan Pulse Trading, based in Regina. Alliance also recently acquired the Arbel Group, a pulse, wheat and durum trading and processing company based in Turkey.
In a release, Alliance said Parent’s assets include two processing plants, with approximately 51,000 sq. ft of bagged storage and approximately 15,000 MT of bulk product storage, and certain land and equipment. The purchase price for the acquisition is $10 million, payable as to $9 million in cash and $1 million in Alliance common shares.
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Alliance said he transaction is scheduled to close on or about January 4, 2010. All of the staff and management team will remain with Alliance’s new Manitoba Bean Division.
“The Red River Valley area is an excellent location for us to source and process navy beans, pinto beans, black beans and coloured beans to serve our customers in North America and globally. Parent Seed is an established, high-quality processor and shipper of beans, pulses and specialty crops, with an excellent reputation. This is a strategic “tuck-in” acquisition for us that immediately establishes AGTI as a player in the North American bean industry,” AGTI CEO Murad Al-Katib said in the release.
