Kruger family

Net Worth:
$1.91 billion
(▲4.9% from 2017)

Rich 100 rank: #61
Change in rank from 2017: No change
Major company holdings: Kruger, KP TISSUE
Location: Montreal

When Joseph Kruger II, CEO and chairman of the family’s eponymous company, Kruger Inc., was awarded Quebec’s Medal of the National Assembly last year, Quebec Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Pierre Arcand praised Kruger’s career as an “entrepreneur.” It might seem an odd way to describe a third-generation CEO, but Arcand may have been referring to Joseph Kruger II’s expansion of the company’s scope beyond its pulp and paper origins. Today it has interests in multiple renewable energy projects, along with wines and spirits—it’s the third-largest supplier to Quebec liquor retailer SAQ and sells more than 250 products. In September, Kruger announced a $377.6-M plan to diversify operations at its Brompton and Wayagamack Mills.

The Kruger family may have diversified, but its roots remain in pulp and paper. KP Tissue wrapped up the first phase of a $250-million project—$190 million of which is coming from the Quebec government—to convert part of its Trois-Rivières newsprint mill into a manufacturing facility for recycled lightweight linerboard, saving 270 jobs at the plant.

Updated Thursday, November 9, 2017