A day after it announced bank approval to increase its line
of credit by $250 million, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. announced it has bid $42
million to buy Puratone Corporation out of bankruptcy.
The purchase includes hogs, barns and some joint ventures.
Last month Olymel bid $65 million to buy Big Sky out of
bankruptcy. That deal receiver bankruptcy-court approval this week.
In both cases, the pork-processing companies are buying the
hog-farming companies to ensure they get enough hogs for their packing plants.
About a third of Maple Leaf’s hogs at its plant at Brandon
come from Puratone, a company that began as a feed mill in Niverville,
Manitoba.
Puratone is the third-largest hog company in Canada; Big Sky
at Humboldt, Sask., is the largest.
