A court-appointed receiver thinks it may have some buyers for the assets of Canadian Agra Foods, a company whose holdings included a canola crushing plant at Ste. Agathe, Man.
Richter and Partners Inc. of Toronto says it is negotiating with “a variety of parties” interested in Canadian Agra’s assets in Manitoba and Alberta. The Alberta assets include a canola crushing plant at Sexsmith and a deodorizing plant for canola at Red Deer.
“We’re hoping that within the next three weeks we will have reached some agreements which we can move forward on,” said Brahm Rosen, vice-president of Richter and Partners.
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Canadian Agra was forced into receivership earlier this year after failing to meet a court-imposed deadline to restructure its loans.
The company’s plant at Ste. Agathe never went into production, creating the prospect that it could become a white elephant.
Cargill is among the companies that pondered the merits of the Ste. Agathe plant after Canadian Agra went bust.
“I think everyone has taken a look at that plant,” said Peter Rowe, an assistant vice-president of merchandising for Cargill.
Rowe considers the cold-press technology used in the plant as a drawback. He said the extraction method would leave too much oil in canola meal bound for export. Foreign buyers of the meal would not want to pay for the added weight of that residual oil, he said.
