Maple Leaf Foods has chosen an old, familiar name for the pork production business it plans to spin off as a separate publicly-traded company in 2025.
The new, independent pork company will be called Canada Packers Inc.
“We are thrilled to launch Canada Packers as the new name for our future independent pork company,” said Dennis Organ, currently the president of Maple Leaf Foods’ Pork Complex and incoming CEO of Canada Packers, as part of the naming announcement on Thursday. “This choice reflects our deep respect for the history and legacy of this iconic brand, while affording us the opportunity to bring it forward and blend it with our ambitious vision for the future as a world-leading pork producer.”
The name dates back to 1927 when three of the country’s larger meatpackers amalgamated to form Canada Packers. The company evolved into Maple Leaf Foods after combining with Maple Leaf Mills in the early 1990s.
“Canada Packers is a distinctive, memorable, and authentic name for the new pork company,” noted Curtis Frank, Maple Leaf’s president and CEO.
As announced in July, Maple Leaf Foods, with its largest shareholders, the McCain family, have committed to retaining a 19.9% ownership stake in Canada Packers for at least 24 months after the spin-off, with an evergreen agreement that will see Canada Packers supply Maple Leaf with pork for its processing facilities.
Maple Leaf says the splitting up of its vertically-integrated pork business will give each company “a sharpened execution focus, and the financial independence to pursue their own value creation strategies” with Maple Leaf focusing on consumer packaged goods while Canada Packers will leverage its expertise in pork production.
Canada Packers will be led by Organ, who joined Maple Leaf in 2023 after serving as the CEO of Smithfield Foods.
One of Canada’s largest pork production and meat companies, Maple Leaf operated around 200 pig production sites as of 2023, with two primary processing plants (Brandon, Man., and Lethbridge, Alt.) The company also works with independent producers to supply its processing operations.
In its current form, Maple Leaf employs around 13,500 people.
Related: Maple Leaf Foods announces plan to spin off pork production business
