Two embarrassed entrepreneurs are selling their mega beverage factory in Terrebonne. Olivier Primeau, who already owns more than 30% of Quebec's authorized water, wins the contract for $20 million.
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The transaction between Tristan Bourgeois Cousineau and Joanie Couture, a couple who made headlines at the end of 2023, and the owner of the beach club in Pointe-Calumet will be paid in shares of Prime Drink Group, which is making the purchase.
This company existed under the name Dominion Water Reserves when Olivier Primeau purchased it for $3 million in 2022. Since then, it now controls the Beach Day Every Day brand as well as 6 of Quebec's 42 groundwater extraction permits, or 36% of the volume.
The area of the Terrebonne factory is 100,000 square meters. It generates at least $20 million a year in sales: Molson Coors brewed seltzer there until recently, and many other customers still brew their products there.
The Triani factory in Terrebonne. Photo agency QMI, Mario Beauregard
Primeau was already a Triani customer. The Beach Day Every Day Energy Drink has been brewing in Terrebonne for several months.
“It is an investment that I have been looking for for a long time. We are now in full control of our destiny,” he told the Journal in an interview Monday.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur takes advantage of Tristan and Joanie's setbacks to expand his drinks empire. The transaction follows CH Group's purchase of its two music festivals last week.
Prime Drink is currently ahead of only one player in the Quebec beverage sector: the giant Groupe Geloso and its brands Poppers, Pepito and Bulles de Nuit.
Olivier Primeau, 38, is expanding his reach into the beverage industry in Quebec. Thierry Laforce / QMI Agency
The Kings of Trials
Tristan Bourgeois Cousineau, 32, and his partner Joannie Couture founded Triani in 2014. They bottled Italian wine themselves, which they sold in convenience stores.
Nine years and numerous takeovers later, the pair have developed a reputation as intimidators. Tristan and Joanie are no strangers to the courthouse and have been the target of at least 20 lawsuits in the last four years alone, either on their own behalf or on behalf of their companies.
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They are also being sued by the city of Terrebonne, which accuses them of discharging their contaminated water with abnormal pH and excessively high levels of COD and phosphorus into the city's sewage system for more than 1,000 days in a row.
Transbroue, a Triani subsidiary not involved in Monday's transaction, filed a notice of intent with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy on Dec. 7.
The beverage retailer owes $8,293,661 to 79 creditors, including more than $100,000 each to eight Quebec microbreweries.
Transbroue's total debt could reach $55 million.
Tristan and Joanie paid $25 million to buy Transbroue and breweries Glutenberg, Oshlag and Vox Populi 16 months ago. The Caisse de dépôt etplacement du Québec was involved in this transaction.
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