Mar 12, 2011 3:03 PM

Urban Barns Foods Inc, an authority on sustainable development of fresh fruits and vegetables, has acquired a 100% ownership interest in Non Industrial Manufacturing Inc (NIM), a Canadian manufacturer of vertical farming equipment.

Terms and provisions of the acquisition of NIM provided that Urban Barns acquire from the shareholders of NIM 100% of the total issued and outstanding class A shares of common stock of NIM in exchange for issuance to shareholders of NIM an aggregate 2,500,000 shares of restricted Class B common stock of Urban Barns, thus resulting in NIM becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Urban Barns. In one year from the date of issuance, effective March 8, 2012, each Class B share of common stock of Urban Barns will convert to 20 Class A shares of common stock of Urban Barns.

Jacob Benne, chief executive officer of Urban Barns, said, “Over the past year and a half, we evaluated and tested several vertical growing systems. Each of the systems we tested came up short in one area or another including maintenance, labor, and energy costs. Most notably, their ability to fulfill large-scale commercial production of food was lacking. Conversely, we are very pleased with the proprietary growing equipment developed by NIM, which is by far more efficient in production output over any of the equipment we tested. The innovative growing machine is designed to be highly scalable and will be well-suited for large-scale commercial production of fruits and vegetables in multiple major urban locations.”

Dan Meikleham, chairman of Urban Barns, said, “With this acquisition, Urban Barns through its wholly owned subsidiary NIM, now owns the intellectual property. We will use this acquisition to negotiate concessions from local governments for land, buildings with leasehold improvement, and access to a local work force to create new jobs in communities close to our urban barns. This will lead to a safe and secure supply of locally grown food for their urban communities.”

Urban Barns uses proprietary equipment to produce affordable fruits and vegetables in a secure and controlled indoor environment. By setting up subsidiary facilities and growing locally, the company can focus on supplying any community, irrespective of the regional climate, effectively reducing shipping times and related spoilage costs.