A Moose Jaw pork processor remains under court protection from its creditors after a judge gave the company until Sept. 27 to complete its analysis of a proposed business plan.
Worldwide Pork has been closed since mid-May after producers quit supplying hogs because they weren’t being paid. About 270 employees are out of work.
Last week a Regina judge granted the company a third extension under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, which gives it time to study the plan and hold off bankruptcy.
However, the judge also allowed a group of producers to go ahead and sue two company directors and a former director.
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The producers allege that these officials let Worldwide Pork sell its product to a single Japanese marketing firm – owned by director and chief executive officer Kenji Nose – at prices that were too low to earn a profit.
In an affidavit filed by Nose, he said Worldwide had paid producers too much for their hogs and the company hadn’t been profitable for two or three years.
Paul Harasen, the lawyer representing the producers, has said his clients don’t believe the company can be restructured so that all the creditors will be satisfied.
Worldwide needs about $4 million to pay creditors and $5 million to implement a proposed expansion plan.
The expansion would double processing to 500,000 head per year, create 40 more jobs and implement a fresh chilled product.
