TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Quebec – Olymel LP intends to centralize production of fresh and breakfast sausages with its most recent acquisition, La Fernandière, a Trois-Rivières food company that produces a wide range of sausages sold under the La Fernandière brand.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Olymel is acquiring all the assets of La Fernandière which will remain “an autonomous entity” within Olymel. The sausage maker will continue producing sausage under the La Fernandière brand while retaining sales staff and company representatives.
La Fernandière employs more than 80 workers at a 31,000-sq.-ft. modern plant in that was built in 2012. Olymel said it will consolidate sausage production at the acquired plant, which will need new equipment for a third sausage production line. The company expects to invest C$1.5 million ($1.183 million) in the new line. Olymel said fresh and breakfast sausage volumes currently produced at the company’s plant in St. Henri-de-Lévis on the south shore of Quebec should be replaced by equivalent volumes of ham.
“The complementarity between La Fernandière’s desire to grow and Olymel’s need to increase its production capacity, and the synergies that will be generated by the pooling of our operations, were the main factors in bringing our two companies together, resulting in a final agreement for the acquisition of this company which has been such a success all these years,” said Réjean Nadeau, president and CEO of Olymel. “Olymel welcomes all the employees of La Fernandière and is committed to pursuing business relationships with the company’s current suppliers and customers. La Fernandière is a company that has always striven for excellence, and I am also pleased that the two main current owners of La Fernandière, Yanick Gervais and Marc Lafontaine will continue to work within the company so it can benefit from their valuable expertise and skills.”