STE. HYACINTHE, Quebec — Canada's Competition Bureau cleared the way for Olymel LP to acquire Big Sky Farms, according to news reports.

Olymel, one of Canada’s largest pork processors, bid $65.25 million (US$66.58 million) for Big Sky Farms, the country’s second-largest hog producer. Soaring feed costs pushed Humboldt, Saskatchewan-based Big Sky into receivership in September. Big Sky had more than 42,000 sows in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and produced more than 850,000 market hogs in Canada and the United States annually, according to the company.

Olymel currently operates two bacon production facilities in addition to nine pork processing and packing plants and several poultry facilities.