Alliance Grain Traders has achieved its goal of getting a foothold in the edible bean market by purchasing Parent Seed Farms of St. Joseph, Man., said Murad Al-Katib, president and chief executive officer of Alliance.
“We’ve been very involved in lentils, peas and chickpeas, but beans hasn’t been a big focus of our company. We’ve been very public and vocal about our desire to enter the dry edible bean market,” said Al- Katib, whose company is based in Saskatchewan.
“We acquired the facility and all the staff and management are going to stay on with us. We plan on growing St. Joseph as a base for our North American bean strategy, not only processing Manitoba beans but drawing beans out of the U.S. into Manitoba and processing them and exporting them to the world.”
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The entry into the bean market cost Alliance Grain Traders $10 million: $9 million in cash and $1 million in Alliance shares. Parent Seed Farms has two processing plants and 15,000 tonnes of bulk storage and has been processing beans, pulses and special crops for more than 35 years, according to a news release announcing the purchase.
Edible beans are a good fit for his company, Al-Katib said, because customers who buy lentils and peas from Alliance also want to purchase edible beans.
“A lot of our U.S. and Canadian and European clients… they also buy beans. So it’s a real product complement for us and we like the fact that beans are aimed at the high end packing, canning and retail markets.”
With this latest purchase, Al-Katib added, Alliance Grain Traders now owns 15 pulse processing plants around the world: seven in Canada, one in the United States, one in Australia and six in Turkey. Parent Seed Farms becomes its first plant in Manitoba.
