The Belgian crop chemical firm that bought a majority stake of Canadian crop chemical distributor Engage Agro in 2016 has bought up the rest of the business.
Belchim Crop Protection announced Monday it had increased its stake in the Guelph-based company — which it renamed Belchim Crop Protection Canada in 2017 — to 100 per cent for an undisclosed sum.
The Belgian parent firm’s investment “allows further integration and provides synergistic advantages that can be established between the parent company and its Canadian enterprise,” Belchim CEO Johan DeSaegher said in a release.
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Belchim has had an interest in Engage Agro since 2016, when it bought an undisclosed minority stake, and raised it to 60 per cent at the end of that year.
Operating since 1995, the Canadian operation was best known for its work within the minor use registration system, developing, registering, selling and servicing products for markets such as horticulture, ornamentals, turf crops and row crops, “vegetation management” and other specialties.
The parent firm markets crop protection products in European Union member states, specializing in “important” EU crops such as potatoes, vines, vegetables and corn.
Belchim had said in 2016 it hoped to leverage the Engage Agro platform to bring its ag chem platform overseas.
In mid-2017, it also bought full control of Arizona-based Engage Agro USA, a deal it said offered a “ready-made platform” to market the parent firm’s portfolio to growers in the United States. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
