Maple Leaf taking pork public

CEO says shift an opportunity to restore growth in plant protein category

- ROSA SABA

Maple Leaf Foods CEO Curtis Frank says the opportunity to spin off its pork business into a publicly traded company apart from its consumer packaged goods company was "too logical to ignore."

This little piggy is going to market.

Maple Leaf Foods is spinning off its pork business into a new publicly traded company, the firm announced Tuesday.

It’s something that’s been in the works for a little while, but the time is now right, chief executive Curtis Frank said in an interview.

That’s thanks to pork markets normalizing from pandemic disruptions and the completion of significant capital investments in two manufacturing facilities, he said.

“We operate two very successful, but very distinctive businesses — one a consumer packaged goods company, the other a world-leading pork complex,” Frank said.

“The opportunity to separate them to unlock value and unleash their full potential was too logical to ignore. So this is a very big part of our strategic blueprint for the future.”