Premium Brands already has stakes in the Harvest Meats, Hempler’s, McSweeney’s and Made-Rite meat brands. This acquisition is designed to boost its presence in Ontario.
George Paleologou, Premium Brands president and CEO, said: “This transaction is the next step towards our objective of building a leading speciality protein platform in Ontario. Not only does Leadbetter perfectly complement our Ontario-based Belmont Meats burger business, but it will also help with the launch of our Centennial [Foodservice] business’ Ontario operations when Centennial opens its new 105,000 square foot custom cutting and distribution facility in the Toronto region at the end of this year.”
Cowboy
Leadbetter manufactures a range of meats including specialty bacon, fresh and frozen burgers and portion-cut steaks as part of its Cowboy offering.
Leadbetter has annual sales of US$55m and operates two production facilities in Orillia, Ontario.
Phil Leadbetter, president and CEO of Leadbetter Foods, added: “We are very excited to be joining the Premium Brands family. We have been doing business with Premium Brands for many years and know, like and respect its unique culture and core values.
Advantages
“Looking forward, I have no doubt that we will be able to take our business to the next level of its development by leveraging the many advantages that Premium Brands has to offer, including access to capital, marketing resources and a variety of new internal and external sales opportunities.”
This has been a year of growth for Premium Brands. In January, it acquired the minority shareholder’s interest in Made-Rite Meat Products LP (Made-Rite) and the land and building leased by Made-Rite for US$8.9m in cash, as well as an 80% interest in Interprovincial Meat Sales Ltd (IMS) for approximately US$5.8m, including US$2.3m in cash. IMS is based in Nova Scotia and is a supplier of high-quality protein products to retailers, foodservice distributors and food manufacturers in the Maritimes.