The President of HyLife in La Broquerie says there will not be any changes, locally, in how the company operates once it is officially sold.

On Monday, the Manitoba-based pork producer announced it was selling its Canadian shares to Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) out of Thailand for $498 million. CPF is Thailand’s largest agricultural conglomerate.

The remaining 49.9% of the company’s shares will remain with Japan's, Itochu Corp.

Claude Vielfaure says they started working on the deal late last summer and hope to have the transaction closed within the next three to six months, providing it receives the necessary approvals. At that time Vielfaure, along with other founding members and major shareholders Denis Vielfaure and Don Janzen will be retiring.

Vielfaure adds although HyLife will be under foreign ownership, he says this will not change their community involvement.

"They’re actually a company that operates in 17 countries around the world and were looking to grow in Canada and North America and have chosen HyLife to be their venue to do that," he adds, "so they share similar values and culture to us and they expect HyLife to continue to be run with the people we have and continue to grow and support our communities in Manitoba."

Vielfaure says this change will continue to propel HyLife on a path of growth and create opportunities for employees to grow within the company along with new jobs for the communities in which HyLife operates in. 

"It’s a win-win simply because HyLife just became stronger," says Vielfaure, "and we have strong shareholders that have invested in our company and are showing confidence in HyLife to be able to continue to grow in our communities in Manitoba and North America and just become a stronger company than we ever have been before."

HyLife currently has assets in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Japan and China, and employs over 2,500 people.