BRANTFORD, Ontario – The Nu-Gro Corporation announced two business deals this week that will increase its offering of fertilizer products to the commercial and consumer lawn and garden markets.
ACQUISITION OF PURSELL ASSETS. Nu-Gro announced Sept. 28 that it has entered into an agreement in principle to a cash purchase of the Pursell Vigoro Canada business ("Pursell-Canada") from Pursell Industries Inc., Birmingham, Ala. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close during fall 2000, according to Nu-Gro.
Pursell-Canada is a large manufacturer and seller of fertilizer for the professional and consumer turf markets in Canada. Professional turf brand names include Par-Ex® and IBDU®. According to a company press release, Nu-Gro will acquire the Pursell-Canada operations, including the plant and equipment located in Tillsonburg, Ontario, and Pursell-Canada’s trademarks.
"This acquisition is consistent with our growth strategy for the Canadian lawn and garden market," said John Hill, Nu-Gro’s president and CEO. "The high quality products from Pursell will be an excellent enhancement to our comprehensive range of products."
The addition of the Pursell-Canada product line is expected to add $20 million to Nu-Gro sales in fiscal 2001. Pursell-Canada’s 36 employees will join Nu-Gro’s 250 employees.
FERTILIZER PRODUCTION INCREASE. Nu-Gro also announced Sept. 25 that it will add production capacity to its fertilizer raw material segment. The addition will include the construction of a Nutralene® plant with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons at Terra's Courtright, Ontario facility.
Terra produces urea, ammonia and UAN on this site and will supply urea and services to the Nutralene plant. According to Nu-Gro, construction will begin immediately and the plant is scheduled to be operational by spring 2001.
Nu-Gro also announced that it has renewed its manufacturing agreement with Aqualon Company, Louisiana, Missouri to provide Nitroform® until July 31, 2005. The company has agreed to invest in capital upgrades at the Aqualon facility, which will improve product quality, increase storage capacity and add a Nitroform greens grade product line to its existing Blue Chip® and Blue Granular® product lines.
"The new Nutralene plant and the upgrades at the Nitroform plant will increase efficiencies and add capacity that will allow us to keep up with the increased demands of the North American marketplace," said Mark Barbera, vice president and general manager for Nu-Gro Technologies Inc.
Nu-Gro is a manufacturer and seller of packaged commercial and consumer lawn and garden products, including the brand names CIL®, Wilson® and Green Earth®. Through its subsidiaries in Canada and the United States, the company produces and distributes controlled release nitrogen raw material to the fertilizer industry worldwide. For more information visit the company’s web site at www.nu-gro.com.