Canadian food distributor Premium Brands Holdings Corporation has acquired a 76% interest in Maximum Seafood, a Toronto-based supplier of fresh and live seafood with annual sales of approximately $56 million (€44.6 million).
"Max D'Elia, Leo D'Elia and Tony D'Angelo, the founders of Maximum, have done an exceptional job in making it one of the leading providers of fresh and live seafood to the Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal markets. Its strong market position and differentiation based business strategies combined with exceptional growth opportunities in the seafood category make this an ideal investment for us," said George Paleologou, Premium Brands’ president and CEO.
"Our existing seafood business, which has grown rapidly over the last several years to almost $30 million (€23.9 million) in annual sales, together with Maximum will create an $85 million (€67.7 million) sales platform in a product category that is benefiting from a number of consumer trends, including an increased awareness of the health benefits associated with a diet that incorporates fresh seafood, and Canada's changing ethnic mix.
"Looking forward, the expertise and resources that Maximum has in fresh and live seafood, combined with the buying and supply channel synergies created between Maximum and our other seafood initiatives, positions us very well to build a national seafood platform and to further accelerate our sales in this rapidly growing product category," said Paleologou.
D'Elia, CEO of Maximum, said while the company will continue to execute its wholesale focused business plan, it is looking forward to leveraging Premium Brands' infrastructure and product supply initiatives to drive Maximum’s growth across Canada.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to both Premium Brands' earnings per share and free cash flow per share.
Premium Brands owns a broad range of leading specialty food manufacturing and differentiated food distribution businesses with operations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Washington State.
Its family of brands include Grimm's, Harvest, McSweeney's, Bread Garden Express, Hygaard, Hempler's, Quality Fast Foods, Gloria's Best of Fresh, Harlan's, Creekside Bakehouse, Centennial Foodservice, B&C Foods, and Duso's Fine Foods.
