Maple Leaf Foods has completed the sale of Rothsay, its rendering and biodiesel business, to Darling International of Irving, Texas, for C$645m.
Rothsay is a major rendering company in Canada and a producer of biodiesel with six rendering facilities in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia and a biodiesel facility in Quebec. The company employs approximately 550 people.
Maple Leaf plans to use the proceeds from the transaction initially to pay down its debt.
Following completion of its prepared meats strategy, the company's management will consider appropriate deployment of excess capital, including reinvesting in its core consumer packaged food businesses or returning excess capital to shareholders.
Darling International chairman and CEO Randall Stuewe said, "We are excited to add the Rothsay assets and employees to our portfolio.
"Together we will bring new solutions and opportunities to our many customers across North America."
Darling International is a publicly traded provider of rendering and bakery residuals recycling solutions to the US food industry. The company recycles beef, poultry and pork by-product streams into useable ingredients such as tallow, feed-grade fats, meat and bone meal, poultry meal and hides.
