Family-owned Conviron sold to Chicago-based conglomerate

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This article was published 21/09/2022 (1110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Controlled Environments Limited (Conviron), has been sold to Madison Industries, a privately-held Chicago-based corporation that owns several dozen companies with total revenue of more than US$10 billion.

The 58-year-old Winnipeg company owned by the Kroft family has become an international leader in specialized plant growth chambers favored by academic institutions, and pharmaceutical and food companies around the world.

In 2013 it acquired Argus Controls in Surrey, B.C., a leading supplier of automation systems for growing facilities that also provided Conviron an entry into the burgeoning cannabis market.

Steve Kroft, the owner and son of the founder, former Senator Richard Kroft, said the decision to sell was born out of a confluence of market demand pressures.

He said although the company is coming off “our biggest years,” climate change, global food security, the COVID pandemic are all creating even more opportunities for the company.

“I have never laid awake at night worrying about making payroll,” he said, but he did worry about whether the company was big enough to address all the opportunities at hand.

“My father and I agree that if we ever felt we were holding the business back by being family-owned we would get out of the way,” he said.

Although he said it was bittersweet to be selling the company, its legacy of being part of important scientific work — canola and golden rice were developed in Conviron growth chambers — is gratifying.

“We have out-grown our capacity,” he said. “This is the culmination and the proof that we have done something wonderful.”

In a prepared statement, Larry Gies, founder and CEO of Madison Industries, said, “We are honored that the Kroft family chose Madison to carry on the amazing mission and culture that Steve and Richard Kroft have created. Conviron’s role in feeding the world, improving human health, and protecting the environment truly resonated with us.”

Under Madison’s ownership the company will continue to be led by its current president, John Proven and all 300 of its employees — 200 of whom are based in Winnipeg — will all be able to stay with the company.

“The objective is to continue to grow the business,” Proven said. “We were already on a path developing out a number of technologies after making a significant investment in software development.”

Kroft said being part of the Madison group of companies — that number close to 100 — is not so much about potential synergies as it is about resources and capital support, but Madison does own companies in the indoor air quality and HVAC and filtration markets that are of interest to Conviron.

In addition to those markets, Madison has also built industry-leading companies in the medical, safety, rescue & firefighting equipment, heat transfer, industrial equipment, process improvement, instruments & controls, advertising, service outsourcing sectors.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca