A group led by a California auction company cast the winning bid in a bankruptcy auction for the North Carolina assets of chicken processor Townsend.
San Francisco-based Rabin Worldwide led a group that made a high bid of $5.36 million at an auction earlier this week. Rabin expects to close on the property, which includes plants in Pittsboro, Siler City and Mocksville, within the next few weeks.
The sale will bring an end to Ukrainian billionaire Oleg Bakhmatyuk’s disastrous attempt to enter the U.S. poultry industry. Bakhmatyuk, the majority owner of Ukraine’s largest egg producer, spent more than $35 million acquiring and upgrading the facilities before abruptly shutting them down for good in mid-2011.
Omtron USA, the company Bakhmatyuk used to buy the Townsend assets, itself filed for bankruptcy late last year, which led to this week’s auction. Before the bankruptcy filing, about 130 North Carolina chicken farmers sued Omtron for breach of contract in state and federal court
To read the rest of the story, please go to: News Observer
