OTTAWA – The last Canadian-owned combine manufacturer in the country is being sold to an American company.
Western Combine Corp. and Portage Manufacturing Inc., of Portage la Prairie, Man., soon will be owned by AGCO Corp. of Duluth, Georgia.
The companies, which employ 60 or more people as a core workforce and more at peak production, manufacture combines for the Massey-Ferguson line, swathers, round balers and other equipment.
Western Combine has had a business relationship with AGCO for several years.
Two years ago, AGCO purchased the Massey-Ferguson unit of Varity Corp., once Canada’s premiere farm machinery manufacturer and since the early 1990s a corporate resident of Buffalo, N.Y.
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Since then, it has been buying all of its Massey-Ferguson combines for sale in North America on contract from the Portage plant.
Last week, Western Combine owner Linamar Corp. of Guelph, Ont., announced it had signed a letter of intent to get rid of its farm machinery line.
It expects a finished deal by the end of the month.
“Our main business is automotive parts and this was not core to our business,” Linamar president Larry Pearson said in an interview.
From Duluth, AGCO spokesperson Judith Czelusniak said April 12 the company expects the final sale negotiations to go smoothly.
She said it is too early to say if the sale will affect what Western Combines does or the workforce.
“I can’t really comment at this stage because the deal still is not complete,” she said. “We are hoping everything is resolved soon.”
Western Combine and Portage Manufacturing are reported to have had revenues last year of close to $40 million.
