An inland grain terminal and three crop input supply businesses—about an hour south of Saskatoon—have been sold, following shareholder approval at a special meeting Thursday afternoon.

Just over 90 percent of shares were present in person or voted by proxy. Of those shares, 90.09 percent voted in favor of the sale and 9.91 percent were opposed.

Gardiner Dam Terminal (GDT) reached the deal with Viterra last month. Viterra previously owned 50 percent of the grain handling facility at Strongfield. The other half was owned by 225 shareholders, who are mostly farmers or retired farmers. Those shares were sold nearly 20 years ago during a local campaign to build the concrete grain handling facility on the CP line. The elevator has a currently capacity of just over 27,000 metric tonnes.

Viterra will become sole owners of the grain terminal. The grain company will then sell the three GDT AgServices crop input retail outlets at Tullis, Broderick and Strongfield. The buyer is Riverbend Co-op based in nearby Outlook, SK. The price of that transaction has not been disclosed.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our Co-op to significantly increase our presence in the ag sector in central Saskatchewan,” said Greg Sarvis, General Manager of Riverbend Co-op. “GDT Ag Services is thriving business with an excellent reputation.”

In the original sales announcement last month, GDT expected to receive between $27.9 million and $30.5 million in aggregate proceeds. From that, each GDT shareholder is estimated to receive between $1,175 and $1,275 per share.

Of the 24 employees at Gardiner Dam Terminal, 22 have been offered positions by Viterra and/or Riverbend. Twenty-one employees have accepted the employment offers

The transaction is expected to close on December 19.