Looking for the full history book?
If you would like a copy of PIC's history book, contact reception and we can route your request.
Our History
PIC's roots begin with Prairie Industrial Chemicals in 1976 and evolve through a multi-decade operating and governance journey.
Origins
In 1976 Prairie Industrial Chemicals Ltd. opened its doors. It was a start-up chemical distribution company with one supplier and four available products. The founders grew the business by being open for business twenty-four hours per day and seven days per week all year round. They understood their customers' needs, often before the customer identified the need on their own. Just four years later, the company had annual sales in excess of $5 million and established branch offices and warehouses across the prairie provinces.
By its fifteenth year, combined sales surpassed $26 million dollars annually and the company had diversified into chemical packaging, chemical manufacturing, transportation, import/export and property management. With a view to future growth through delegation and acquisition, it underwent a major reorganisation. Separate companies were formed, each with its own core business. Ownership remained with Prairie Industrial Chemicals, but the name changed to more accurately reflect a broader corporate mandate.
Today, PIC Group is a family office that supports management of operating companies in order to grow. Through a set of investments including joint ventures, wholly-owned and partially-owned operating companies, loans, bridge financing, and a portfolio of investment companies, we provide service and support to all of the companies we invest in. We look for every opportunity to find synergy, facilitate acquisitions and finance internal growth within existing companies. Analysis of new opportunities compares the return on investment against our best alternative for creating lift during the period of time we hold the investment. We seek to maximize lift by predicting our partners' needs and help keep their business safe from the unexpected.
If you would like a copy of PIC's history book, contact reception and we can route your request.
Timeline
1976
Prairie Industrial Chemicals opens as a startup chemical distribution business in Saskatchewan.
1991
As the business diversified, operating divisions were reorganized into separate companies with clearer mandates and governance structures.
~2006
PIC continued expanding board-governed operating businesses while building a selective portfolio of investment companies.
Today
PIC operates as a family office focused on governance, operator support, and long-term partnership outcomes.