HALIFAX — J.D. Irving Limited and Cooke Aquaculture are among the businesses that have benefitted from financial help from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) in its 30-year history.

The agency was started in 1987 by then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. $10 billion and 56,000 grants and loans later, the former prime minister’s vision of a revitalized Atlantic Canadian economy.

Big winners

• Atlantic Wallboard LP, a division of J.D. Irving Limited: $42.4 million in conditionally repayable loans from 2006 to 2012 to build a gypsum wallboard manufacturing plant, buy equipment and for a gypsum conversion project.
• The Halifax International Security Forum, organized the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a D.C.-based public policy think tank: $29.78 million in grants to host the international conference from 2009 to 2018.
• Cooke Aquaculture Inc., Cold Ocean Salmon Inc. and Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. (divisions of Cooke Aquaculture): $25 million in loans, conditionally repayable loans and non-repayable contributions for multiple projects over more than a decade, including establishing salmon farming operations.
• Michelin North America (Canada) Inc.: $10 million loan for manufacturing equipment in 2006.
• Cabot Links at Inverness LP: $6.5 million in loans from 2008 to 2016 to build golf courses and a resort.
• DSME Trenton Ltd. (now permanently closed): $5 million loan for equipment to build wind towers in 2010.
• Rolls-Royce Canada: $2.87 million conditionally repayable loan in 2013 to develop support technologies for unmanned surface vehicles.

• Craft brew and spirits

  • Authentic Seacoast Distilling Company Ltd.: $500,000 loan in 2015 to establish a craft distillery and expand brewery.
  • Big Axe Brewery Inc.: $363,030 loan in 2017 to expand current brewery operation.
  • Prince Edward Island Brewing Company Ltd.: $350,000 loan in 2012 to start a microbrewery, and $35,000 grant to hire an experienced beer industry expert.

  Tiny tourism outfits

  • Marble Zip Tours Inc.: $196,487 loan to establish a “zipline harness tour” operation in 2007 and $125,000 loan in 2013 to build a rope challenge course.
  • Ocean Surf Ltd.: $38,500 loan in 2011 and $175,000 loan in 2015 to upgrade campground facilities.
  • Club Wind and Kite: $45,000 loan to start a kite surfing day adventure in Lameque, N.B., in 2008.