QUEBEC CITY, Que. – The owner of Remorques Lewis has acquired trailer manufacturer BWS Manufacturing. (BWS) headquartered in Centerville, N.B.

Hugo St-Cyr made a move on BWS, acquiring a majority of shares in the company, after he became interested in distributing their highly diversified towing products in Quebec and Ontario, he said.

After two failed attempts to acquire B­WS, the two were able to start negotiating a deal in 2017 that was completed in February of this year.

“I wanted them at all costs, and to get them, I had no choice but to buy them,” Hugo St-Cyr joked.

Sales at BWS saw a 30% decline in the last year, making the time right for a deal.

Randy MacDougall, former President of BWS, will now assume the position of Chief of Operations while retaining 25% of the company’s shares.

“We needed new blood, a new start,” said MacDougall. “Hugo is young, dynamic, he’s a born go-getter and a dreamer and we needed someone like him in our corner. His spontaneous purchase proposal came at the right time.”

Since the merger between Remorques Lewis and BWS Manufacturing, the company has hired 26 new employees and is poised for more growth this year, it says. Together, the two companies are aiming to net $40 million in sales and hire 130 qualified employees in 2018.

Remorques Lewis says it is hoping to leverage BWS’ specialties in manufacturing custom trailers for heavy road transport — including those for to agriculture, construction, paving, forestry and petroleum products — to attract new business from entrepreneurs sensitive to the health and safety of their operators.

The partnership also plans to release a new live bottom trailer in the spring that it says is “much safer that traditional ‘dump trailers.’”

The trailer will be available in April and will retail for $115,000 to $120,000.