Olymel to buy Quebec sausage maker La Fernandière
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
Pork and poultry processor plans $1.5 million investment to add production line at newly-acquired plant in Trois-Rivières, Que.
TROIS-RIVIERES, Que.—Canadian meat packer Olymel is buying Quebec-based sausage maker La Fernandière for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition will bring the La Fernandière brand, as well as its assets, under the Olymel banner, but the pork and poultry processor plans to allow La Fernandière to continue operating as an autonomous unit. With a nearly 70-year history, the sausage maker employs 80 people at its 31,000 square-foot plant in Trois-Rivières, Que.
“The complementarity between La Fernandière’s desire to grow and Olymel’s need to increase its production capacity, and the synergies that will be generated by the pooling of our operations, were the main factors in bringing our two companies together, resulting in a final agreement for the acquisition of this company which has been such a success all these years,” Réjean Nadeau, Olymel’s president and CEO, said.
Following the acquisition, Olymel also announced plans to shift all its existing production of fresh and breakfast sausages to La Fernandière’s plant. The company will invest $1.5 million in new equipment to support the shift, creating 30 new jobs by putting in a third production line in Trois-Rivières.
Founded in 1948, La Fernandière produces more than five million kilograms of products annually—a figure Olymel plans to triple.
