The public company that he “paid peanuts for” in 2022 keeps Olivier Primeau busy. After three failed transactions in 2023, his company has just paid $20 million for a beverage factory in Terrebonne.
“I wanted a shell, I always took advantage of public companies,” he says about the $3 million he put into Dominion Water Reserves, renamed Prime Drink, last year.
In interview at Newspaper, Olivier Primeau takes the time to breathe. The last two weeks have been full of turnarounds for his many businesses.
After the sale by its Midway Group of two music festivals to Evenko on January 17, Prime Drink paid $20 million in shares to the couple behind Triani on Monday.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur, who already owns Beach Day Every Day (BDED) alcomalts, takes control of a 100,000 square foot beverage manufacturing plant in Terrebonne.
The direction his “shell” will take is starting to become clearer. Because for now and until at least 2026, its BDED alcomalts are produced, sold and distributed by Labatt. He only owns the trademark, we pay him royalties.
“I just bought myself a nice security with the factory. We still have a large volume, 700,000 cases per year, and almost no one can produce that,” explains the native of the South Shore of Montreal.
The Terrebonne megafactory is already operating at full capacity and generates $20 million in revenue per year. It will continue to be administered by Tristan Bourgeois Cousineau and Joanie Couture, the embarrassed couple behind Triani.
Accustomed to controversy
Olivier Primeau has always dreamed of controlling a company listed on the stock exchange. “We know the potential, people invest with you, they believe in you,” he enthuses.
The one in which he has staked his millions, in 2022, has almost 40% of the volume of water under permit in Quebec, or nearly 4 billion liters of water per year. This wealth of blue gold raises the concern of many Quebecers.
“I paid peanuts for my shell, but as long as I had a shell, I jumped at the chance when I saw the water. It’s an asset that may perhaps become my best move in his career,” he admits.
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No plans to bottle this or sell it to anyone, swears Olivier Primeau. But who knows, he laughs, how much it will be worth “when the Americans invade us for our water”?
No need either, he explains, for “his” water to run the factory. We must therefore trust his word, once again: our water would be safe in his hands.
The presence of Tristan and Joannie doesn’t bother him either. The couple have built a reputation as bullies over the past 10 years; A regular at the courthouse, he has been the target of at least 20 lawsuits in the past four years alone, either on behalf of Tristan and Joannie or on behalf of one of their businesses.
“I have zero defense for Joannie and Tristan in their business, but they are solid factory managers and that is what they are going to do for Prime Drink: manage the factory,” says the majority shareholder of the group.
Beach Day Every Day in Miami
Olivier Primeau therefore wishes to use his public company to convince other investors to join him. Its goal? Compete with the giant of the beverage sector in Quebec, the Geloso group, whose megafactory is in Laval.
The Geloso family, billionaire and little-known, owns, produces and sells the brands G & Tonik, Julius Bloody Cesar, Poppers, Sangria Pepito, Bulles de Nuit, Boris Bière, Casal Domingo, La Bittt à Tibi, Mons, Cidrerie Beaupré and L’ amoszus.
It also has production or distribution agreements with international brands such as Truly Hard Seltzers, Twisted Tea, Samuel Adams, Bavaria and Baccardi Breezers.
The war that is beginning is therefore unequal, for the moment. But Primeau’s word, he will give battle. “I want to make BDED a global brand, ready-to-drink products in Quebec and elsewhere have exploded over the past 10 years, we are going to take advantage of it,” he says.
Next step: the arrival in the United States of BDED in 20,000 points of sale. Olivier Primeau can already see himself getting off the plane, in Miami, in front of a big, brightly colored ad for his brand. Beach Day Every Day, he says with a laugh.
Olivier Primeau’s companies
Midway Group
Sector: event
Properties: Beachclub in Pointe-Calumet, the Escapade Festival in Ottawa (with Live Nation)
Primeau family (with his father and brother)
Sector: grocery store and commercial real estate
Properties: Two IGA supermarkets and millions of dollars of commercial buildings
Prime Drink
Sector: water/drinks
Properties: He has 13% of PRIME shares for a value of $3 million
Westwood Bar & Grill
Sector: restoration
Properties: he was a partner in around twenty restaurants, but is now only a partner in one: Westwood, in Laval
Beach Day Every Day
Sector: drinks
Properties: alcomalt and energy drink