A Manitoba co-operative that was trying to build a beef slaughter plant has thrown in the towel because of a lack of funding.
“The board agreed to a voluntary dissolution,” said Bob Munroe, pres-ident of Rancher’s Choice Beef
Co-op.
“Once the share money is returned, we’ll have a special general meeting where the membership will tell us what they want to do.”
The directors of the
co-op, which for more than 18 months sought funding for a proposed $26 million cull cow and fat cattle slaughtering plant near Dauphin, Man., have voted to return about $1.6 million in shares bought by investors.
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“We can’t get the money to build a plant, so we won’t have one built,” he said.
“At least not with this structure anyway.”
Returning the money to investors will take about a week, he said, because a lot of paperwork, accounting and legal issues need to be worked out.
“We’re dealing with lawyers and government,” he added.
Cash generated by the non-refundable $100 membership fees has been spent operating the co-op, but Class A share money will be returned to investors.
About $1.5 million worth of equipment bought from a packer in Washington state and now sitting in a warehouse belongs to the province, which backed the co-op with $4.5 million in loan guarantees as it commissioned environmental studies, engineering and design work.
Munroe said he hopes another group will take up where the co-op left off.
“Hopefully somebody else might pick it up who has more financing,” he said.
“We’re keeping it all together, the land and everything as a unit.”
