A new company is in the running to buy the assets of Naber Seed and
Grain Co. Ltd. now that the sale to an Australian firm has been blocked
by the former owner.
Wesc Enterprises Ltd. has already bought Naber’s plant in Kathyrn,
Alta., and appears to be the front-runner to buy the company’s
remaining assets located in Melfort and Star City, Sask.
The receiver overseeing the sale of Naber’s assets confirmed Wesc has
placed a bid of $2.2 million to buy the land, building and equipment of
Read Also
VIDEO: Prairie crops on track for average yields
LANGHAM, SASK. – Western Canadian farmers will harvest an average crop this year provided cooler temperatures prevail and the region…
the Saskatchewan operations.
The offer supplants an earlier tender made by J.K. International Pty
Ltd., an Australian pulse firm that was forced out of the running
through actions taken by Todd Naber, former owner of the plant.
On July 30, Naber filed an affidavit with the Court of Queen’s Bench in
Regina stating that Naber Seed and Grain Co. Ltd. was not just a
processor, but also a farming operation.
He said the company hired his father year after year to farm about 220
acres of land owned by Naber Seed and Grain.
Naber argued that as a farming operation, the company should have been
notified of the sale of land and assets by its lenders through
provisions outlined in the Farm Debt Mediation Act and Saskatchewan
Farm Security Act. But it wasn’t.
Ernst and Young receiver Rob McMahon said he doesn’t believe that Todd
Naber is a farmer, but proving it would have been a complicated legal
process and time was of the essence with the sale to J.K. International
closing on Aug. 15. The Australian firm backed away from the sale after
Naber put up the roadblock.
With J.K. International out of the picture, the receiver is focusing on
the bid from Wesc Enterprises Ltd., a company based in Three Hills,
Alta.
“If the sale that Todd Naber doesn’t oppose can be done, then that’s
what we’ll do, which is the Wesc Enterprises sale,” said McMahon.
In his affidavit, Naber said negotiations with J.K. International
“apparently resulted” in a purchase price of $1.7 million for his old
company.
“As a guarantor of the indebtedness of Naber Seed and Grain Co. Ltd. to
the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, I am interested in seeing that
the best possible purchase price is obtained on any sale of the
assets,” said Naber.
There have been suggestions that Naber is linked to the Wesc bid, but
that hasn’t been confirmed.
If that is true, it would get the attention of a lot of farmers who
received 55 cents on the dollar for grain they delivered to Naber’s
plant.
Naber declined to comment, and Walter Sukkau, one of the directors of
Wesc Enterprises, said he has “no idea” whether Naber is involved with
his company.
McMahon said he has no proof of a link between Naber and Wesc.
“We don’t know that Todd Naber is at all involved with Wesc
Enterprises. The only thing we know is we believe that he supports the
deal.”
McMahon knows little about the new suitor other than it is a company
represented by a Linden, Alta., man who calls himself Colonel R. Fyn.
Wesc is working on getting a deposit so it can proceed with the sale.
