Saskatchewan will be the headquarters of a new swine genetics company, the government announced last week in Regina.
The province’s Genex Swine Group has merged with Hypor, the swine genetics division of the international food company Nutreco, to form Hypor LP.
The deal will keep 100 jobs in Regina and three nucleus barns near Balcarres.
Crown Investments Corp. minister Maynard Sonntag said the merger offers access to international markets that Saskatchewan
didn’t have before.
“There was some risk when all of the research done is limited to Canada, and by creating opportunities to go into the world marketplaces, it really serves to reduce that risk,” Sonntag said.
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Genex, formed in 1980 and known until 1998 as National Pig Development (Canada), holds about a 20 percent market share in Canada.
Hypor employs about 100 people in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. The company markets to Japan, Poland, the Philippines, Italy and Germany.
The two parent companies will be equal partners in the new venture.
Before the deal, CIC owned 86 percent of Genex. It paid $2.3 million to obtain the remainder. Sonntag said CIC’s investment including the assets amounts to just more than $9 million. But he also said the merger increases the value of the business.
Roald M.A. van Noort, managing director of Nutreco, said the merger gives that company greater access to the North American market.
“We have hardly any presence in the U.S. and Canadian markets,” he told reporters. “Genex is a well-known company. It’s a perfect step up for us.”
Nutreco brings its international business experience to the table, van Noort said, making research and development more cost-effective.
He stressed that Nutreco uses quantitative genetics in its breeding program, not genetic modification.
Nutreco also does business in feed, breeding, production, processing, sales and marketing of fish and poultry. It operates Hybrid Turkeys in Ontario and has salmon feeding and farming operations on both coasts.
