A single company is about to dominate Canada’s thriving hemp-based foods industry.
Manitoba Harvest this week acquired Hemp Oil Canada for $42 million, which will give the combined company an edge in two industries: hemp foods and hemp ingredients, according to the Winnipeg Free Press.
Shaun Crew will remain at the helm of Hemp Oil Canada, which he co-founded. The firm just finished a new 35,000-square-foot processing facility that will bolster production by 600%.
Manitoba Harvest’s branded products appear in roughly 7,000 shops in both Canada and the U.S., but there’s a much bigger market the company can tap after the acquisition.
So far, hemp-based foods are only present in 3% of Canadian homes and in 1% of U.S. homes. That means there’s a lot of room for growth.
Connecticut-based Compass acquired an 87% majority ownership in Manitoba Harvest last summer for $132.5 million.