Tillage, seeding and fertilizer application equipment manufacturer Salford Group has announced the acquisition of Valmar Airflo Inc., a Manitoba-based maker of seed and granular spreaders.
“We are thrilled to add Valmar Airflo to our family,” said Geof Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Salford Group, in a news release. “This merger will allow us to offer a complete line of competitively priced seeding and granular application equipment to the grower and service provider.”
The deal follows Salford’s acquisition of BBI Spreaders last October.
Valmar was founded in 1977 by Charles Balmer, a Swiss immigrant who started out as a mechanic for the J.I. Case dealer in Elie, Manitoba. He was eventually inducted into the Manitoba and Canadian Agricultural Halls of Fame for his work in agricultural equipment design (read his bio here.)
Valmar’s product line includes units that combine the company’s patented Airflo metering technology with other tillage, seeding, planting, and application equipment, including Salford’s tillage machines. The companies already have a history of working toegether, particularly in catering to the growing interest in cover crops over the last decade.
“This next step in our cooperation with Salford Group is very exciting for us,” said Mercedes Caron, Valmar
President. “Salford Group has the capital, additional core expertise and access to markets that will bring
Valmar’s existing product lines to more farms in North America and a greater global market.”
The Valmar manufacturing facility at Elie, Manitoba will continue production, with Valmar operating as a new unit of Salford Group. It will also become a distribution centre for the complete Salford product line. The facility will be Salford’s fifth manufacturing location, in addition to Salford, Ontario; Osceola, Iowa; Cornelia, Georgia; and Omsk, Russia.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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