International company buys Prairie Forest Products
- Details
- Published on Thursday, February 22, 2018
By Ken Waddell
Neepawa Banner & Press
Neepawa’s second largest private employer has changed hands. Prairie Forest Products, Neepawa’s wood treatment plant at the west end of the community has been bought by Stella-Jones, a large Quebec based company. The Prairie Forest highway sign came down recently and company employees emails have changed to the Stella Jones address. Prairie Forest at Neepawa has been owned by the Prendiville family of Winnipeg (Prenidiville Industries) for many years.
In an interview with the Neepawa Banner & Press, Brian McManus, CEO of Stella-Jones, said. “We see the purchase of Prendiville Industries as a way to fill in our network of plants across Canada and the U.S. We plan to maintain the current plant and even expand it.” McManus noted that the response from the local team has been very positive and that it has been great working with the Prendiville family. “I think the Prendivilles were concerned that the plants continue and the the employees futures be looked after.”
Prendiville Industries, in addition to the Neepawa treatment plant, includes a saw mill at Kenora, Ontario and Nor-West Industries at Thompson, Manitoba.The Stella-Jones website profile states that the company “is a leading producer and marketer of pressure treated wood products.
The company supplies North America’s railroad operators with railway ties and timbers, and the continent’s electrical utilities and telecommunication companies with utility poles. Stella-Jones also provides residential lumber and customized services to retailers and wholesalers for outdoor applications, as well as industrial products which include marine and foundation pilings, construction timbers, wood for bridges and coal tar based products.
The company operates thirty-seven wood treating plants, sixteen pole peeling facilities and a coal tar distillery. These facilities are located in five Canadian provinces and nineteen American states and are complemented by an extensive distribution network across North America. As at June 30, 2017, the company’s workforce numbered close to 1,900 employees.
Stella-Jones enjoys a number of key attributes which should further enhance the company’s strategic positioning and competitive advantage in the wood treating industry. Among these are the ability to service clients from multiple plants, a solid financial position that allows the Company to stockpile and air-season green wood for major long-term contracts, a long-standing stable source of wood supply, and a registration to produce and sell the wood preservative, creosote.
