The chief executive of AGT Foods and Ingredients Inc. says his company might go public again. 

“We’re going to look forward to maybe getting back into the market sometime in the future,” Murad Al-Katib said in a television interview Monday.

The Regina-based company – which is an international distributor of food and ingredients, as well as processor of pulses and specialty crops such as lentils, peas, and chickpeas – went private in 2019 with the backing of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and Point North Capital Inc.

Despite going private at a time when plant-based companies such as Beyond Meat Inc., which went public in May 2019, were capturing investors’ attention, Al-Katib said there have been benefits.

“[During the pandemic] we saw how markets reacted and overreacted to a number of sectors. Being private for us has been a very strong thing in particular on our innovation platform,” Al-Katib said in reference to securing global partnerships with some major consumer products companies.  

“We’re able to conduct all that innovation and research behind a veil. And we’re able to assist those companies in launching really great consumer products.”

While he didn’t provide a specific timeline for when AGT Foods might go public again, Al-Katib emphasized the company’s growth plans.

“We’re going to continue our growth trajectory and we’ll definitely look at the capital structure that makes sense for us,” he said.

“We wanted with Fairfax to make AGT a Canadian champion that was going to continue to grow – and we’re well on that path to continue to do that.”