MGS Horticultural Inc., a full-service supplier of fertilizers, pest control products, seeds and substrates in North America, together with Haifa Chemicals, a global supplier of potassium nitrate for agriculture and industry, specialty plant nutrients and food phosphates, have announced a plan to purchase Plant Products Co. Ltd.
Plant Products is a leading Canadian supplier of fertilizer and pesticides in the specialty horticulture market. The deal is anticipated to close at the end of June.
“This sale will ensure that the marketplace continues to receive world class customer service as well as leading edge products,” said Neil Dolson, president of Plant Products Co. Ltd.
MGS will acquire Plant Products’ Canadian distribution business, sales force and name. MGS plans to use both names (MGS Horticultural and Plant Products) in all communications going forward. MGS will maintain locations in Leamington, Ont.; Brampton, Ont.; Laval, Que.; St. Hyacinthe, Que.; and Detroit, Mich. As part of the deal, MGS has signed multi-year agreements with Haifa to maintain exclusive distribution of Plant-Prod soluble fertilizers, Acer controlled release fertilizer, Stim-Root and potting soil premix fertilizers for distribution in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Eastern Canada.
“This acquisition will enhance the ability of MGS to bring new and exciting products to its customer base,” said Chris Stickles, CEO of MGS. “The combined technical expertise will be unmatched in the specialty horticultural industry. We expect our customers, suppliers and industry will benefit from the many synergies which will result from this transaction.” He added MGS is excited to have many talented individuals join its team. Plant Products staff will bring years of knowledge and experience to a growing company.
“We look forward to maintaining and enhancing relationships with the customers, suppliers, and strategic dealers of Plant Products.”
Haifa will acquire Plant Products’ high-performance complementary fertilizers including the Plant-Prod and Plantex lines of solubles and the Acer controlled-release fertilizer line. All the acquired business will be merged into Haifa group as a new company operating under the name of “Master Plant-Prod Inc.” Haifa will also acquire the blending facility in Brampton.
Natan Feldman, Haifa’s Vice-president of marketing and sales, said, “For Haifa, this acquisition further enhances our wide specialty plant portfolio and expands our offerings of high-end products. It will make us into a bigger and stronger company with extensive technical expertise, global infrastructure and financial resources, and will enable us to further expand our investments, R&D and customer support activities in the specialty plant nutrition industry.”
Feldman added, “The expansion of our production facilities greatly reinforces Haifa’s leading market position and solidifies our North American presence. It puts us at the very top of the global suppliers list. The added capacity from the new plant will not only increase Haifa’s overall production capacity, but will also shorten our distribution cycle in North America and improve the stability of supply, thus enhancing Haifa’s ability to respond to changing market situations.”
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