A Japanese firm with annual revenue of more than $50 billion has invested $56 million into Hylife, a Manitoba pork production company.
Itochu, a trading company based in Tokyo with investments in 400 companies worldwide, announced this week it has acquired a 33.4 percent stake in Hylife, which produces 1.4 million pigs annually at barns in Manitoba and operates a processing plant in Neepawa, Man.
“The sales of Hylife’s safe, secure pork will be increased with Itochu’s marketing network in the Asian market with a focus on China, where consumption continues to grow, as well as in the Japanese market,” Itochu said in a statement.
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In its statement on the investment, Hylife noted that current shareholders and management would retain control of the company. Having a company like Itochu, which is a member of the Fortune Global 500 and has 130 offices in 66 countries, will certainly help Hylife expand its global market for Manitoba pork products, said Grant Lazaruk, Hylife chief executive officer.
“Not only does the investment contribute to Hylife’s sustainability, it opens up further potential for growth.”
Hylife, which is in the pork genetics business, operates hog barns, a feed mill and its pork processing plant in Neepawa, is one of the primary vertically integrated pork companies in Canada.
When Hylife acquired Springhill Farms in 2008, the pork processing plant employed about 300 people. It now employs around 900 people at the Neepawa plant and processes approximately 28,000 hogs per week.
