Atlantic Aqua Farms acquired by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Malcolm Campbell | CBC News | Posted: November 18, 2017 5:27 PM | Last Updated: November 18, 2017
The sale was announced Friday
The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan announced Friday that it has purchased the P.E.I. company Atlantic Aqua Farms, the largest grower and processor of live mussels in North America
Based in Toronto, OTPP is one of the world's largest pension funds and invests and administers the pensions of Ontario's 318,000 active and retired teachers. It bought Atlantic Aqua Farms from San Francisco-based Encore Consumer Capital, which owned the company up until now, for an undisclosed amount.
If anything it'll be positive, we'd certainly like to continue to grow our business and teachers are very interested in investing for the long-term. —Terry Ennis
Terry Ennis, the farm's CEO for the last nine years, said the pension plan's acquisition won't affect employees or products, and is encouraging for the future of the company.
"If anything it'll be positive, we'd certainly like to continue to grow our business and teachers are very interested in investing for the long-term," he said.
"When they see a business that they like, that meets their mandate they like to hold it for the long-term and they're talking how do we strategically grow and strengthen the business for the next hundred years."
'Excellent folks to work with'
According to Ennis, there will be a new board of directors under the new ownership but "everything will be status quo" in terms of day-to-day operations.
"We're very excited about [OTPP], they have a world-class organization there and a great reputation for environmental stewardship and social responsibility and corporate governance — I think they're going to be excellent folks to work with."
In addition to selling P.E.I. blue mussels under the Canadian Cove brand, the company also sells oysters, clams and lobsters are also part of their inventory.
Atlantic Aqua Farms is the first aquaculture company OTPP has purchased, but in a release the pension plan said it is looking to continue investing in the food industry.
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