ABOVE FOOD TO ACQUIRE NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST VERTICALLY INTEGRATED QUINOA SUPPLIER

Plant-based food company Above Food Corp. is set to acquire Northern Quinoa Production Corp (NorQuin), a vertically integrated producer of quinoa, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada.

Above Food, also Canadian, says the acquisition will add a scaled portfolio of speciality ingredients capabilities – and customers – alongside a growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) business to its platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, neither the closing date.

NorQuin is said to be the leading quinoa producer in the world, with a state-of-the-art production facility, supplying speciality ingredients and finished products to some of the largest food groups. The company has more than two decades of research behind it, enabling the development of proprietary, higher yield, higher protein, non-GMO varietals of quinoa.

Above Food plans to integrate NorQuin’s genetic capabilities and grower programmes into its ‘disruptive agriculture’ business, which it says will provide “significant scale” to NorQuin’s existing grower infrastructure.

Looking for margin expansion

Lionel Kambeitz, CEO of Above Food, said: “Adding them to our scaled, vertically integrated platform will enable significant opportunities for growth and margin expansion across each of our core competencies: Disruptive Agriculture, Specialty Ingredients and High Growth CPG.”

For Above Food, it will gain access to quinoa in various forms, which is considered a complete protein super ingredient, and also high in fibre. “It will be a key staple in various parts of our business model, playing an important role in formulating future products while also bringing together key players in the business,” said the company in a statement.

In addition to NorQuin’s speciality ingredients portfolio, the company comes with a ready-made range of value-added quinoa products to add to Above Food’s CPG division. These are already sold across North America in natural, mass, and club retailers like Harris Teeter, Walmart, and Costco.

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