Olymel acquires Quebec sausage company

Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.-based Olymel L.P., a leading Canadian pork and poultry company, has announced that it’s acquiring all the assets of La Fernandière, a food company in Trois-Rivières, Que. that manufactures a wide range of sausages sold under La Fernandière brand. The finanical details of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to a press release, Yanick Gervais, the grandson of one of the founders of La Fernandière, will remain with the company as vice president and general manager. The press release states that La Fernandière will remain an autonomous entity within Olymel. It will continue producing and marketing La Fernandière sausages, and will retain its own sales force and representatives, as well as separate brand management.

“The complementarity between La Fernandière’s desire to grow and Olymel’s need to increase its production capacity, and the synergies that will be generated by the pooling of our operations, were the main factors in bringing our two companies together, resulting in a final agreement for the acquisition of this company which has been such a success all these years. Olymel welcomes all the employees of La Fernandière and is committed to pursuing business relationships with the company’s current suppliers and customers. La Fernandière is a company that has always striven for excellence, and I am also pleased that the two main current owners of La Fernandière, Yanick Gervais and Marc Lafontaine will continue to work within the company so it can benefit from their valuable expertise and skills,” says Olymel president and CEO Réjean Nadeau.

Founded in 1948, La Fernandière employs more than 80 people in a 31,000-sq-ft plant built in 2012. La Fernandière is recognized for its expertise, which enables it to combine a tradition passed down from generation to generation with innovation in order to better cater to changing tastes and consumer habits, according to the press release.

“Today, this company is acquiring the means to continue growing, and I am certain that the announcement we are making will enable the company to pursue its development and make it possible for the La Fernandière brand to conquer new markets. Our suppliers will continue to deliver quality raw materials, and our customers and consumers will continue to benefit from the excellence of our products and our dedicated service. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the employees of La Fernandière and to reiterate my confidence about our future as we partner with Olymel, a robust company, the flagship of the Quebec agri-food industry, which will help La Fernandière achieve new successes,” says La Fernandière co-president and general manager Yanick Gervais.