The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has denied a farmer’s request to appeal the sale of Heartland Pork.
Madam Justice M.A. Gerwing said June 9 that the judge who approved the sale of the hog barns had broad discretion under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and she would not intervene.
The operations were granted protection under the act in April after the major creditors, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Bank of Montreal, called their loans. A Queen’s Bench justice approved the sale of all of the operations in May to Sterling Pork Farm, a subsidiary of Stomp Pork Farms Ltd.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Greg Rupcich of Kenaston, Sask., had asked to appeal. When he sold land for a finishing barn to the pool’s Heartland Pork subsidiary, his contract stated he had right of first refusal on that parcel.
However, the seven hog operations in which the pool was either the sole or majority shareholder were sold as one entity.
Gerwing found that this was “not an artificial layering in order to defeat a right of first refusal but was done to meet a genuine objective.”
She also noted that the sale had closed by the time Rupcich applied to appeal. She dismissed the application, with costs.
After the ruling, Rupcich said he still doesn’t understand why his contract wasn’t honoured.
He said he contacted a corporate lawyer to help him present his case in appeal court chambers, but it was going to cost him $15,000 so he appeared on his own behalf.
He took issue with the comment from Heartland’s lawyer during the proceedings that Rupcich was simply trying to create last minute mischief by trying to appeal.
“Everything they did was at the last minute,” he said, noting that he was on his tractor on a Saturday when served notice to appear in Regina court on a Tuesday when the purchase offer was made.
Rupcich alleged the pool and Stomp had been negotiating the deal for months with a view to making it difficult for anyone else to make an offer. At least one group did offer more than the $22.4 million paid by Stomp.
According to Stomp’s offer to purchase, the parties did have a confidentiality agreement signed in February, well before the companies were placed under creditor protection. The inventories listed in the offer are based on February numbers.
