IMMOKALEE, FL – For just about first-time anything, there is an exciting reason to celebrate! This is true of Lipman Family Farms, based out of Florida, which recently entered a definitive agreement to acquire Huron Produce, an Ontario, Canada-based greenhouse grower and distributor of tomatoes and veggies.
"The Huron Produce acquisition is truly transformative," said Lipman Family Farms’ COO, Darren Micelle, in a recent press release. "We look forward to the opportunities resulting from the introduction of our proprietary varieties into the protected agriculture space. We have innovative new products planned that will create value for our customers. Likewise, Huron Produce can now expand their customer offering to include field grown products. This is a classic win-win transaction. The addition of Huron gives us extraordinary product depth, expands our collective capabilities, and broadens our distribution footprint, allowing us to better serve our customers with a single, year-round solution for tomatoes and vegetables. We’re excited to welcome the Huron team to the Lipman family."
With more than 50 years of produce business experience in tow, Huron Produce is firmly established, and its business’s bandwidth stretches throughout Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, packing under Suntastic®. To offer customers hothouse and field-grown tomatoes and vegetables throughout the year, Lipman Family Farms took this step into greenhouse-grown produce.
"The transaction with Lipman will allow Huron to build on our years of success, accelerate our business strategies, and enhance our service and product offering to our customers," said Huron Produce’s President, Jeff Kints. "It is clear we and Lipman share the same values, both being family businesses with long histories in agriculture and fresh produce. You’d never know Lipman is as big as they are. They work more like a small, agile company with a focus on people. The Lipman leadership team understands that people create the difference."
With an expected close date in April of this year, the acquisition includes plans to expand into other new regions—including new facilities in Canada and Nebraska, a second location in Denver, and a warehouse in McAllen, Texas.
Lipman’s financial advisor throughout the transaction process is Centerview Partners.
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