Ontario's Highline Produce buys All Seasons Mushrooms for $59M
Highline says all nine locations will continue to operate as usual with about 1,400 employees across Canada
The largest operator in the Canadian mushroom industry says it has acquired one of the largest mushroom growers in Western Canada.
Leamington, Ontario-based Highline Produce says it has acquired All Seasons Mushrooms.
Highline's parent company, Fyffes, said in a news release it paid $59.1 million to acquire All Seasons.
All Seasons grows about 8.6-million kilograms of mushrooms per year at three facilities in B.C. and one in Alberta, while Highline operates five facilities in Ontario and Quebec and sells about 26.3-million kilograms of mushrooms a year.
Highline says all nine locations will continue to operate as usual with about 1,400 employees across Canada.
"It's a great strategic fit for Highline Mushrooms," Highline CEO Glenn Martin said. "It won't have any direct impact in the operations in Essex County. It will continue to make us a stronger company and secure our futures."
Highline has 750 employees in Leamington and Kingsville in Essex County.
With this deal, Martin says Highline can be come a national provider to the major grocery chains.
Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, called it a huge deal.
"Margins are up and demand is up for mushrooms, generally speaking across North America," he said. "There is probably going to be demand for Canadian mushrooms due to the low Canadian dollar."
Because its cheap to borrow money right right now, he said, "you can expect more mushroom mergers."
"The bottom line for Leamington is that the future is bright," he said. "You can't move a mushroom production facility that easily or that quickly and the market in Canada is growing."