Purchase sale agreement reached for Diageo bottling plant

The Diageo bottling plant in Amherstburg closed in February. Photo by Windsor Aerial Drone Photography

The process to sell the Diageo plant in Amherstburg has taken a step forward.

The plant at 110 St. Arnaud St. appears to have a new buyer, but the identity of the buyer is not yet known.

“We can confirm that a purchase sale agreement for the Amherstburg facility has been signed. The process remains confidential and we are not currently in a position to share details regarding the purchaser. We will share additional information when appropriate,” said a Diageo spokesperson.

The company announced plans to close the plant in Aug. 2025 and followed through on that in February 2026, despite pleas and protests to keep it open. Roughly 200 jobs were impacted by the closure, with some employees moving on prior to the closure and about 100 still there when the plant closed down.

Diageo listed the Amherstburg bottling facility for sale in December.

Premier Doug Ford said last fall that he would remove Crown Royal products from LCBO store shelves once every Diageo employee left the Amherstburg plant. That ended up not happening, as a $23 million agreement was reached between the company and the Province of Ontario. Of that $23 million, $500,000 was earmarked for Invest Windsor-Essex and another $500,000 was given for local community projects, with the province having final approval over what is decided for the latter.

Mayor Michael Prue said he found out when area media started calling him asking him to confirm rumours of a potential sale. 

Prue stated CAO Valerie Critchley and Deputy CAO/director of development services Melissa Osborne looked into it and confirmed it.

“The rumours ended up being true,” said Prue. “My initial gut reaction is I’m very happy.”

Prue cautioned that it’s not a done deal yet, as the potential new buyer has to go through its due diligence with Diageo and finalize the deal. He said he is not sure who the new buyer is.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” the mayor said. “It’s in its very early days. The company has confirmed an agreement of purchase and sale, which is good.”

The due diligence portion can take a while, Prue said, and if all goes well, the deal would close after that.

“The sale does not proceed until everything is finalized,” said Prue. “There is no formal announcement until the deal is done.”

Prue said he had been working with companies interested in buying it. 

One company has seemingly walked away while another was still interested as of a month ago, but Prue reiterated he has not heard who the potential new buyer is.

“It could be somebody brand new,” said Prue.

The hope is the site remains industrial, he added. If it needs an Official Plan or zoning bylaw amendment, it would go before town council.

“We need the jobs,” said Prue. “We’ve got housing all over the place. We need (the) Diageo (site) for jobs so people will live in the houses and work here.”

While the new buyer does not have to identify themselves until the deal is done, Prue hopes they will come forward as soon as possible.

“I’d like to work with them from the very beginning if it’s an industrial use,” he said.

The town’s community improvement plan (CIP) could be of use to the new buyer, Prue added, particularly if they are hiring new staff or building new structures on the site.

“They could benefit from that.”

Purchase sale agreement reached for Diageo bottling plant

By Ron Giofu