Victoria, BC – June 30, 2017 – PRT Growing Services Ltd. (PRT) is pleased to announce it has reached an agreement with the ownership group of Skimikin Nursery Ltd to acquire the company, effective July 1, 2017.
Skimikin Nursery is located in Tappen BC, approximately one hour north of PRT’s three other BC Okanagan region nurseries. Skimikin was first established as a BC Ministry of Forests (BC MoF) nursery in 1977. In 2002, the current ownership group purchased the nursery and has operated it successfully since. Skimikin’s excellent team has a built solid reputation in both forest seedling growing and customer service. The nursery is comprised of a 100 acre (40 ha) site with approximately 260,000 square feet of greenhouse facilities and approximately 196,000 square feet of open compound growing space. Skimikin’s customer base comprises both forest industry customers and the BC Ministry of Forests.
PRT President and CEO Rob Miller commented, “We are very pleased to welcome the customers and employees of Skimikin Nursery to the PRT family. The team at Skimikin have an excellent track record, and we look forward to working with them to continue this success. With the acquisition of this facility, PRT will take another step towards our goal of better serving our customers in the BC Interior. Given the shift away from open compound grown pine species and towards alternative greenhouse-grown species in the post Mountain Pine Beetle era, the acquisition of Skimikin Nursery with its significant greenhouse capacity and strong team, will assist PRT in meeting customer needs in the evolving BC forest seedling market.“
Mr. Miller added, “We have worked diligently with the current ownership group in order to arrive at this mutually agreeable arrangement. This acquisition provides PRT with opportunity to improve our service offering while providing stability for employees and a succession opportunity for the current owners. We recognize and respect the legacy of this nursery, and its importance to the fabric of the BC Interior silviculture industry. We look forward to continuing this legacy by working with Skimikin’s customers, and being an integral part of their successful reforestation efforts, now and in the future.”
PRT Growing Services Ltd.
The PRT group, through affiliates PRT USA Inc. and PRT Growing Services Ltd, is a forest seedling propagator and the largest producer of container-grown forest seedlings in North America. Following the Skimikin acquisition, PRT will grow over 210 million seedlings annually and operate a network of 15 forest seedling nurseries in the US and Canada, as well as Bionera, its short rotation woody crop subsidiary. For further information, please see PRT’s website at www.prt.com and Bionera’s at www.bionera.com.