Several properties and assets in Alberta and Manitoba of the North American Lamb Co. (NALCO), which entered bankruptcy protection last year, have been sold or are close to being sold to new owners.
NALCO entered into proceedings governed by the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in August 2022 with nearly $53 million in outstanding debts to more than 200 creditors, according to court documents. Most of the outstanding debt, $24 million, is held by Farm Credit Canada.
NALCO was billed as a game changer in the industry following the 2018 merger of the Alberta-based Canada Gold lamb and SunGold Specialty Meats along with Canada Sheep and Lamb Farms based in Manitoba.
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Throughout its operations, NALCO managed a vertically integrated system that managed breeding, feedlots and processing across four sites in Manitoba and two in Alberta before it entered into creditor protection.
Ernst and Young, the court-appointed monitor in the CCAA process, advertised the collective assets of NALCO as representing the largest federally regulated lamb processor in Canada, which had 70 percent of lamb production in Alberta.
The court has approved the sale of NALCO’s Manitoba Lundar, Rockwood and Stony sites to the Abas Girls Ranch Ltd., three quarter sections to 2Flag Farms and a quarter section to Sheldon Harms.
The monitor has received an extension of a stay of proceedings regarding NALCO’s Alberta assets until March while sales of Alberta properties are being negotiated with the Quebec-based West Group, a subsidiary of Préval Ag.
Préval Ag, a family-run business, operates 36 agricultural subsidiaries involved in veal, beef, field crops, horticulture and grain processing, in addition to lamb, and employs 1,200 people.
In a statement on the sale, Allan Ribbink, chair of the Canadian Sheep Federation, said, “maintaining lamb processing capacity in Western Canada has been, and continues to be, of importance to all Canadian sheep and lamb producers.”
Ribbink previously told the Western Producer the vertically integrated model of lamb production was novel but was a tough fit for ruminants.
However, he said, domestic lamb production continues to lag demand.
In his latest statement, Ribbink stressed the importance of the industry on the Prairies.
“Developing and maintaining regional lamb processing capacity is of paramount interest to the Canadian Sheep Federation, in the context of supply, marketing and animal welfare concerns,” he said. “I am optimistic that the new operators of the former SunGold facility will be supported by the resourceful and enterprising western Canadian sheep and lamb farmers and ranchers.”
