Big Sky Investor Seeks Exit Plan

Reports on news service Farms .Com say the move  is part of a medium-term plan to sell the asset when taxpayer returns can be maximised.

"That is our goal at the present time. It’s certainly not our intent to be the majority shareholder for long," said Lyle Stewart, Saskatchewan’s provincial Minister of Enterprise and Innovation.
Big Sky Farms is one of the largest hog operations in Canada, with roughly 50,000 sows in production. It’s owns 44 production units in Saskatchewan, with an additional three located in Manitoba. The company, as it currently exists, was created in 1995 by Florian Possberg, Mike Deutscher, Dr. Jim Sawatsky and Dr. John Harding.

The province’s involvement in Big Sky Farms began in 2000 under the then New Democratic Party (NDP) government. Investment Saskatchewan Inc. (IS), a Saskatchewan Crown corporation, decided to invest in the expanding hog production company. It’s investments in Big Sky, as of December 31, 2006, were valued at C$29.3 million, making it the majority shareholder.

Stewart said he did not know what the original rational was behind the government’s decision to invest in Big Sky, nor did he wish to speculate as to whether or not IS intended to become the majority shareholder.

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