On October 22, 2018, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. completed its acquisition of two poultry plants and associated supply from Cericola Farms. The two plants are located in Bradford, Ontario and Drummondville, Quebec, and collectively process approximately 32 million kilograms of chicken annually. Maple Leaf has also secured 100% of the processed chicken volume from Cericola's primary processing plant located in Schomberg, Ontario, and holds an option to acquire this asset and associated plant supply in three years.
This acquisition provides Maple Leaf with additional supply and value-added processing capability to advance its leadership in higher value categories.
Cericola is a privately held company that specializes in air-chilled processing of antibiotic free and animal by-product free and organic poultry products.
Maple Leaf is a leading consumer protein company, making high quality, innovative products under national brands. Maple Leaf employs approximately 11,500 people and does business in Canada, the U.S. and Asia.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP represented Maple Leaf with a team led by Michael Innes and including Alex Gorka and Kai Sheffied (Corporate), Dominic Mochrie (Franchise), Shuli Rodal (Competition) and Patrick Welsh (Environmental).