Export Development Canada, a crown corporation that provides financial support to exporters, spent between $5 million and $15 million to acquire a stake in an indoor-farming company owned in part by McCain Foods and Montreal's Desmarais family.
GoodLeaf Farms said in May of this year that it had received $78 million in debt financing from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Farm Credit Canada, a federal agency that lends to farmers. GoodLeaf also said at the time that it had received an equity investment from EDC, but did not provide details.
According to EDC, the transaction was signed on December 22, 2022, and the investment made through TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture Ltd. EDC did not specify the percentage stake that was acquired. The investment was referred to as "support for/sale of agricultural products."
According to the Globe and Mail, the GoodLeaf investment group includes Power Sustainable Lios, a private-equity firm formed last year by the Desmarais family's Power Corp. and a former McCain Foods executive to invest in "sustainable" agriculture. GoodLeaf has "roughly 40 investors," a GoodLeaf executive told the publication allNovaScotia last year.
--HBB
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