Winkler drain tile manufacturer AccuPipe is back with its previous owners after a six-year stint under U.S. management.
Precision Land Solutions (PLS) announced Friday it has bought the AccuPipe business — which makes HDPE tubing for the farm, commercial and construction tile drainage markets — from Minnesota-based manufacturer Prinsco for an undisclosed sum.
AccuPipe had been set up at Winkler, Man. in 2012 by PLS founders Chris and Charlotte Unrau. The Unraus sold the business in late 2013 to Willmar, Minn.-based Prinsco, which until now has operated the Winkler shop under the name Prinsco Canada.
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“This investment will provide vertical integration with our existing Precision Land Solutions company, allowing for a consistent supply of drainage pipe to meet the growing needs of our clients,” PLS CEO Chris Unrau said in a release Friday.
Unrau, a former potato grower, launched PLS in 2006, setting up tile drainage on farmland and more recently moving into “full service agricultural water management.”
“Ultimately, this allows us to serve our clients better, while providing an additional service to the local market,” Unrau said.
In the same release, Prinsco co-president Jamie Duininck said the company is “confident that our employees and customers in Canada will be well taken care of,” adding the U.S. firm will continue to partner with AccuPipe as a supplier, “giving AccuPipe access to our full line of water management products.”
Prinsco, which also has operations in nine other U.S. states and is known for its gold-striped tile pipe, had sought to expand its Canadian footprint after buying AccuPipe by setting up another tile pipe plant at Taber, Alta. in 2014.
That plant closed a couple of years later, a Prinsco spokesperson said, citing market conditions at the time among other factors.
At the Winkler plant, meanwhile, “it’s really business as usual for us,” general manager Garnet Peters said in PLS’s release. “Our staff is staying on and we’re committed to producing the same quality product at cost-effective price points right here in Manitoba.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
