JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Laflamme's expertise in the area of 'lean' production technique will likely boost the newly merged boating firm.

Misty River Marine and Odyssea Leisure Products will merge under a new ownership group. The deal was struck after Odyssea was acquired by investors Eric Laflamme and Gerry Price who, then in turn, merged their operation with Misty River, owned by Larry Licharson and Crocus Investment Fund.

Each of the new owners -- Licharson, Crocus and the Laflamme/Price partnership -- will all have "a significant minority stake" with Licharson remaining as president and Laflamme becoming chief operating officer.

"We think this is a really exciting deal," said Laflamme, current vice-president of operations at E.H. Price and son-in-law of the company's CEO Gerry Price.

He said both he and Price are boating enthusiasts and he has spent some time undertaking due diligence on both Odyssea and Misty River. After several unsuccessful attempts to buy Odyssea failed, Laflamme said an offer was finally accepted at the same time that he was talking to Misty River about becoming an operating partner there.

Brad Peacock, vice-president for investments at Crocus, said all three parties put money into the deal and all believe there are synergies available that could make the two companies more successful combined than they were on their own.

"We've had significant top-line growth for a couple of years and we see this as a huge opportunity to really grow and expand Misty River," Peacock said. "There really are perfect merger synergies in this deal."

The two companies generate close to $10 million in annual sales with Misty River making an aluminum boat and Odyssea making fibreglass boats that sell under the brand names Invader and Silverliner.

The players involved in the deal said they see excellent efficiency opportunities in everything from the sewing of seating upholstery, accounting services, trucking the finished product to the dealers and general marketing undertakings. For instance, salespeople will now have both fibreglass and aluminum boats to offer and distribution can become more efficient.

Laflamme, whose educational background includes a masters in architecture and an MBA, has been very involved in developing lean manufacturing techniques at E.H. Price and believes they can have an impact on the profitability of these companies. "Lean" is an industry buzzword to describe an array of techniques to become more efficient by eliminating waste.

"It used to be that everyone believed that cost minus profit equals selling price. But people have to understand that you can't just increase the price to your customer if your own costs go up," said Laflamme, who said the equation now should read selling price minus cost equals profit.

Licharson, who bought the assets of Misty River Marine from the receiver of the Shamray Group bankruptcy, said Laflamme's manufacturing expertise is exactly the kind of resources that need to be brought to bear on the company.

"I'm pleased with the performance of Misty River for the past few years," said Licharson. "There has been tremendous acceptance of the brand in the market, but we always knew we wanted to make the company into a more modern and up-to-date manufacturing operation. Eric and Gerry's involvement will bring that in spades."

Laflamme said the merged firm will initially operate under the Misty River name, but that re-branding is being considered.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca