Grain company Richardson International has bought some more ag input retail presence in Alberta’s Peace River region.
The privately-held Winnipeg company on Tuesday announced it’s closed a deal to buy North Peace Agro Service Ltd. at Manning, Alta. for an undisclosed sum.
The company’s recent acquisitions in the Peace, starting with the former Agricore United ag business centre at Dunvegan in 2007, have “filled a void that previously existed in our Richardson Pioneer network,” Darwin Sobkow, Richardson’s vice-president of agribusiness operations, said in a release.
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“We are now able to offer service to customers and source grain and oilseeds from all parts of Western Canada and our future expansions of these newly-acquired facilities will further enhance the strength of our network,” he said.
The company said it plans to announce details in the “near future” on upcoming expansions and improvements at its Peace region facilities.
Apart from the North Peace Agro facility at Manning, about 100 km north of Peace River, and the former AU site at Dunvegan, about 90 km north of Grande Prairie, Richardson now owns and operates sites at Fairview, Spirit River and Falher. The company bought Total Ag Ltd. in February and Eco Seeds in April.
Willy Hardy, who until now was the owner-operator of North Peace Agro, will continue to manage the Manning site and oversee its existing staff, Richardson said Tuesday.
Richardson’s expansion into the Peace in 2007 was part of a larger shuffle of assets between Agricore United, Richardson and Cargill, satisfying federal competition regulators ahead of AU’s merger with Saskatchewan Wheat Pool to form Viterra.
