Seventeen Prairie farm retail supply outlets are headed back to the co-operative model from whence their former owner came.
Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL) recently signed a deal to buy 17 fertilizer, seed and agriculture chemical supply centres from Viterra, the Prairie grain arm of Swiss commodity firm Glencore Xstrata, for an undisclosed sum.
The sale, expected to close by the end of this month, includes eight sites in Saskatchewan (Canwood, Cupar, Leoville, Lloydminster, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Strasbourg, White Star) and eight in Alberta (Barons, Claresholm, Crossfield, Grimshaw, High River, Manning, Stettler, Viking) and one in Roblin, Man.
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The deal is a “two-step” transaction, in which FCL will buy the 17 sites from Viterra, and will then transfer those sites’ ownership and operations to local retail co-ops that have already agreed to accept the facilities.
FCL, whose 235 retail co-op owners already operate over 140 ag retail centres in the West through the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS), said staff at all 17 Viterra centres will be offered similar terms of employment within the CRS.
Customers “will be contacted about the changes and informed about the benefits of buying their products from Co-op,” FCL said.
Customers who don’t already have co-op memberships will be “welcomed and encouraged” to join, which would provide them with equity accounts and the opportunity for cash back on overall purchases, FCL added.
Viterra agreed in a side deal in May last year to sell about 90 per cent of its ag retail network, among other assets, to Calgary-based fertilizer and ag retail giant Agrium. That deal only recently picked up approval from Canada’s Competition Bureau.
