Nestlé Canada to sell Pure Life business to Ice River Springs

Nestlé Canada started exploring a potential sale of the Nestlé Pure Life business in Canada in late 2019, with a sale allowing it to focus its efforts on its well-known international brands San Pellegrino, Perrier and Acqua Panna.

The sale only affects the Pure Life business in Canada; the Canadian Nestlé Pure Life business is now independent of the North American strategic review​​ announced last month.  

Acquisition helps Ice River Springs expand beyond private label

Ice River Springs is a Canadian family-owned, private label bottled water producer for retailers, as well as the manufacturer of the Ice River Green bottled water brand.

It says it has built up the company ‘upon values of environmental stewardship, innovation and an ethical business model that ultimately offers consumers a high quality, environmentally responsible, healthy bottled water beverage at a great value’. Alongside its manufacturing operations, it runs a plastics recycling operation, BMP Recycling, that takes bottles and plastic food packaging collected by municipalities and produces food grade recycled PET plastic.

In acquiring the Nestlé Pure Life branded business in Canada, the company is following its ambitions of expanding beyond private label. The sale includes two factories located in Puslinch, Ontario, and Hope, British Columbia, along with a well in Erin, Ontario.

The sale is contingent on completion of the regulatory review process and the deal is expected to close in Q3 2020. The Nestlé Pure Life bottled water business will continue to be run by Nestlé Canada until the regulatory review process is completed.