Olivier Primeau wants to create a group specializing in the manufacture of drinks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, intended for a public who likes natural products: his company Prime Drink gets its hands on Triani Canada.
“We, basically, own water sources and assets,” explains the president and CEO of Prime Drink, Alexandre Côté. With Olivier’s marketing team, we are able to reach an interesting target audience. »
In the fall of 2022, Olivier Primeau got his hands on Dominion Water Reserves (DWR), a small company that holds groundwater capture permits in Quebec. An investment of 3 million dollars, but which allows it to harvest a large volume of water. The company has since changed its identity to Prime Drink. It has water capture permits for 3.3 billion liters annually, said Olivier Primeau, in an interview with The Pressearly Monday evening.
For the moment, it is only Triani’s brewing activities that are of interest to Prime Drink, which revealed details of the transaction yesterday. “The Company will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Triani Canada Inc.”, specifies the press release. It will acquire Triani shares for 2 million, as well as “a specified number of ordinary shares in the capital of Prime”, with an estimated value of 17.5 million. An additional sum of 18.5 million, still in shares, could also be paid upon achieving certain profitability objectives over the next three years.
In total, the two leaders of Triani Canada will hold 49.7% of the shares and Prime Drink shareholders the rest.
The Primeau group announces that it wants to pursue vertical integration. The target clientele is made up of people looking for an “experience”, and “not just a product”, in the organic and natural niches.
The entrepreneur knows the field: Primeau works with Labatt for its Beach Day Every Day ready-to-drink product sold at the SAQ and in grocery stores. He is also behind the vodka of the same name.
Olivier Primeau claims to be more of a specialist in commerce than in events, he who is the son of a grocer. ” I’m in the retail since I was very young,” he confides.
Prime Drink has been working on this file for several weeks, specifies Alexandre Côté, who explains that the goal was to get hold of a company that had strong production potential to create a drinks group. “We were looking for a size large enough to make a splash in the market,” says Alexandre Côté. When we spoke with Triani, there were some similarities in terms of the common vision. »
The transaction does not include the buildings, including the Triani factory in Terrebonne, but the brewing capacity. “It’s as if we had become tenants of the building,” says Olivier Primeau. It’s like buying a business. »
Last week, the entrepreneur announced that it had sold its Metro Metro and Fuego Fuego festivals to evenko – the transaction dates from last month.
“There is a link,” confides Olivier Primeau. It’s not a monetary connection, but I knew I was going to have more time for myself. »
A name that sounds familiar
The transaction announced Monday concerns Triani Canada and not the Triani Group.
The name Triani resonated in the media in 2023. This company took over the Glutenberg group in 2022, which included the distributor Transbroue. Several ex-employees who accuse him of non-payment filed a lawsuit against Transbroue last summer. In December 2023, after several speculations about its future, the company filed an intention to reach an agreement with its creditors, to whom it owes more than 8 million dollars.
In interview with The Pressthe general director of Prime Drink did not want to comment on the setbacks of the distribution branch of Triani, and in particular the highly publicized case of Transbroue.
Alexandre Côté, however, praised the merits of the president of the Triani group, Tristan Bourgeois-Cousineau, who becomes his new partner. “We were looking for a high-quality operator to operate a factory,” he said. There is few of it. Tristan is an excellent factory operator. »
However, it cannot be ruled out that Prime Drink will expand its activities in this area.
“I’m not telling you that one day we won’t buy distribution,” says Alexandre Côté, “but for now, it’s one bite at a time, one step at a time. »
Who is Olivier Primeau?
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Olivier Primeau
He was born in 1991 in Sainte-Martine, on the South Shore of Montreal.
The entrepreneur is known to the public, in particular for having attracted stars like Kylie Jenner, of the Kardashian clan, and the musician David Guetta to his Beachclub in Pointe-Calumet – he acquired it in 2015, with his brother and his father.
In 2019, he created the Fuego Fuego festival, then, in 2022, the Metro Metro festival. Both events are held on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park. evenko acquired the two festivals in December 2023.
In May 2023, his Laval condo was targeted by gunfire and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Laval restaurant belonging to him.