Rubashkins' Agriprocessors Files for Chapter 11

[Mashgiach]

Iowa meatpacker files for bankruptcy protection

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa has filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming a May immigration raid for financial difficulties.

Agriprocessors' move to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday comes a day before the meatpacker was to meet in court with its biggest lender, First Bank of St. Louis.

The bank is seeking to foreclose on the plant in Postville and appoint a third party to oversee Agriprocessors' assets.

The bankruptcy filing says Agriprocessors owes $50 million to $100 million to creditors.

The plant was the site of a May 12 immigration raid in which 389 people were arrested.

A lawyer for the company did not immediately return a call Wednesday seeking comment.

[Reb_Sholom]

Agriprocessors files for bankruptcy

By NIGEL DUARA • Associated Press Writer • November 5, 2008

Kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors has filed for bankruptcy court protection, blaming its financial difficulties on the May immigration raid on its Iowa plant in which more than 300 people were arrested.

The petition for Chapter 11 protection was filed Tuesday, a day before Agriprocessors was to meet in federal court with its biggest lender, First Bank of St. Louis.

The bankruptcy filing said Agriprocessors owes $50 million to $100 million to creditors, and estimated its assets at between $100 million and $500 million.

Agriprocessors said it is "actively seeking new sources of financing," and thinks it can restructure.

First Bank filed suit last week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids claiming Agriprocessors was either unable or unwilling to meet its loan payments. It said the company overstated how much money it had available.

First Bank is seeking to foreclose on the Agriprocessors plant in Postville and appoint a third party to oversee the company's assets.

The bank's suit names Agriprocessors owner Aaron Rubashkin, his son and former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and slaughterhouses in Postville, Iowa, and Gordon, Neb. In addition to livestock and plant equipment, the suit says the Rubashkins' personal property should be considered collateral.

A lawyer for the company did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The plant was the site of a May 12 immigration raid in which 389 people were arrested.

The bankruptcy filing says Agriprocessors owes between 200 and 999 creditors.

Among the creditors is one of the plant's staffing firms, Jacobson Staffing, to which it owes $845,389.82. The Des Moines-based staffing company, which had served as the slaughterhouse's human-resources and recruitment arm, suspended its relationship with the company last week, but did not give a reason. The departure of the 450 Jacobson staffers last week left the slaughterhouse with about 250 workers.

The bankruptcy filing also lists a debt of $318,235 owed to the company's electricity supplier, Alliant Energy.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/art...stream_mjx.ads

[Reb_Sholom]

Agriprocessors Files For Bankruptcy

Manufacturing.Net - November 05, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors has filed for bankruptcy, blaming a May immigration raid for financial difficulties.
The move to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday came a day before Agriprocessors was to meet in federal court with its biggest lender, First Bank of St. Louis.

Agriprocessors said in the filing that it is "actively seeking new sources of financing," and thinks it can restructure.

The filing followed a lawsuit submitted last week by First Bank in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids that claimed Agriprocessors overstated how much money it has available. The suit said the company is either unable or unwilling to meet its loan payments.

The earlier suit names Agriprocessors owner Aaron Rubashkin, his son and former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and slaughterhouses in Postville, Iowa, and Gordon, Neb. In addition to livestock and plant equipment, the suit includes the Rubashkins' personal property as collateral.

First Bank is seeking to foreclose on the plant in Postville and appoint a third party to oversee Agriprocessors' assets.

The bankruptcy filing said Agriprocessors owes $50 million to $100 million to creditors.

Among the creditors is one of the plant's staffing firms, Jacobson Staffing, to which it owes $845,389.82.

The Des Moines-based staffing company, which had served as the slaughterhouse's human-resources and recruitment arm, suspended its relationship with the company last week, but did not give a reason.

The bankruptcy filing states that Agriprocessors owes between 200 and 999 creditors. The largest creditors range from Best Value Trucking in New York to Postville Farmers Co-Op in Postville, Iowa. Also listed is the plant's electricity company, Alliant Energy, to which it owes $318,235.80
The departure of the 450 Jacobson staffers last week left the company with about 250 workers.

The plant was the site of a May 12 immigration raid in which 389 people were arrested.

A lawyer for the company did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

[Reb_Sholom]

Updated November 05. 2008 10:47AM

Agriprocessors files for bankruptcy protection



The Associated Press

POSTVILLE - Financially struggling and legally embattled Agriprocessors has sought protection from creditors in bankruptcy court, where it hopes to reorganize and continue operating.

In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed Tuesday, Agriprocessors says its financial difficulties were caused by “difficult circumstances involving a raid conducted by Immigration and Custom (sic) Enforcement Agency on May 12, 2008, where 389 workers at the Postville facility were arrested and charged and convicted or (sic) possessing forged documents.”

The company said it was filing on an emergency basis because of litigation by a major lender, First Bank Business Capital Inc. of St. Louis, which claimed that Agriprocessors misdeposited certain receivables into its operating account instead of depositing them into the lender’s deposit account.

Agriprocessors defended its handling of the funds, saying that they were “used for the payment of legitimate business purposes.”

Agriprocessors also stressed urgency by saying that it is one of the largest kosher meat and poultry suppliers, and is instrumental in helping to maintain the national availability of kosher meat and poultry throughout the United States.

The Chapter 11 filing will seek to put First Bank Business Capital’s litigation on hold. A hearing scheduled for this morning in U.S. District Court on appointment of a receiver to oversee Agriprocessors’ assets for the lender was, in fact, canceled due to the bankruptcy filing.

Agriprocessors listed estimated liabilities of $50 million to $100 million, and estimated assets of $100 million to $500 million in its bankruptcy filing.

Before its recent legal problems, Agriprocessors had annual revenues of more than $300 million and about 1,000 employees, the lawsuit said.

The company “is seeking its new sources of financing and believes that it will be able to restructure its overall business,” the petition said.

[Reb_Sholom]

Agriprocessors Files for Bankruptcy

By Nathaniel Popper
Wed. Nov 05, 2008

The kosher meat company Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after a week in which the company was hit with massive fines, lawsuits and arrests.

Agriprocessors, which had its primary slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal bankruptcy court in New York claiming that it was unable to pay millions of dollars that it owes to creditors. Last week First Bank in St. Louis sued the company for allegedly defaulting on a $35 million loan.

In the bankruptcy filings, the owner of Agriprocessors, Aaron Rubashkin, stated that filing for bankruptcy should halt that lawsuit temporarily while the company attempts to restructure, suggesting that Rubashkin wants to maintain control over the company. The filing says this is important because Agriprocessors “is instrumental in helping to maintain national availability for kosher meat and poultry products throughout the United States.”

“The Debtor is actively seeking new sources of financing and believes that it will be able to restructure its overall business,” Rubashkin’s affidavit said.

The company’s CEO, Bernard Feldman, did not respond to a request for comment.

Agriprocessors’ Iowa slaughterhouse was the subject of a massive immigration raid in May, which has caused a cascading spiral of financial problems at the company. The raid came two years after an article in the Forward raised concerns about the treatment and pay of workers at the plant.

Until the raid, the company was America’s largest supplier of kosher beef and poultry. Rubashkin’s affidavit said that before the raid, the company had revenues of over $300 million a year and that it employed more than 1,000 workers.

Since the raid, executives at the company have been hit with fines for employing underage workers and for improperly docking the paychecks of workers. Last week, Aaron Rubashkin’s son, Sholom Rubashkin, was arrested and charged with helping to procure false identification for undocumented immigrants who worked at the Postville slaughterhouse.
On Friday, First Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against Agriprocessors and called for a third party to liquidate the company’s assets immediately. The bank and company were set to meet in a court hearing today.

Over the weekend, the company gradually shut down all of its operations in Iowa, leaving hundreds of people without work.

[Reb_Sholom]

Kosher Iowa meatpacker seeks bankruptcy protection

DES MOINES, Iowa: A kosher slaughterhouse has filed for bankruptcy court protection, blaming its financial difficulties on the May immigration raid on its Iowa plant in which more than 300 people were arrested.
Agriprocessors' petition for bankruptcy reorganization was filed Tuesday, a day before it was to meet in federal court with its biggest lender, First Bank of St. Louis.

The bankruptcy filing said Agriprocessors owes $50 million to $100 million to creditors, and estimated its assets at between $100 million and $500 million.

The plant was the site of a May 12 immigration raid in which 389 people, mostly Central Americans and Eastern Europeans, were arrested.
Agriprocessors said it is "actively seeking new sources of financing," and thinks it can restructure.

First Bank filed suit last week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids claiming Agriprocessors was either unable or unwilling to meet its loan payments. It said the company overstated how much money it had available.

First Bank is seeking to foreclose on the Agriprocessors plant in Postville and appoint a third party to oversee the company's assets.

The bank's suit names Agriprocessors owner Aaron Rubashkin, his son and former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and slaughterhouses in Postville, Iowa, and Gordon, Nebraska. In addition to livestock and plant equipment, the suit says the Rubashkins' personal property should be considered collateral.
A lawyer for the company did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The bankruptcy filing says Agriprocessors owes between 200 and 999 creditors.

Among the creditors is one of the plant's staffing firms, Jacobson Staffing, to which it owes $845,389.82. The Des Moines-based staffing company, which had served as the slaughterhouse's human-resources and recruitment arm, suspended its relationship with the company last week, but did not give a reason. The departure of the 450 Jacobson staffers last week left the slaughterhouse with about 250 workers.

The bankruptcy filing also lists a debt of $318,235 owed to the company's electricity supplier, Alliant Energy.

[Reb_Sholom]

UPDATED NEW ARTICLE by the Desmoinesregister

Update: Agriprocessors files for bankruptcy after bank seeks to foreclose

REGISTER STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS • November 5, 2008

A kosher meatpacking plant in Postville filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, blaming a May 12 immigration raid for financial difficulties.

Agriprocessors, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection in New York, where the headquarters are located. The Postville plant is listed as the company's principal asset.

The company says it owes between 200 and 999 creditors $50 million to $100 million, according to records filed in U.S. District Court. Agriprocessors lists assets of $100 million to $500 million.

The company's board of directors met Tuesday and decided to file for bankruptcy a day before a scheduled hearing on a lawsuit from the company's largest lender, First Bank of St. Louis.

First Bank alleged in a federal lawsuit Friday that Agriprocessors defaulted on a $35 million loan and overstated how much money it had available. The bank is seeking to foreclose on the Postville plant and appoint a third party to oversee the company's assets.

An affidavit filed with the bankruptcy petition says the bankruptcy will halt the lawsuit.

Plant owner Aaron Rubashkin stated in the affidavit that before the raid, the plant had annual revenue of more than $300 million and employed about 1,000 people. After arrests of about 389 people, the plant is down to 250-300 employees, Rubashkin said in the document.

Among the company's largest creditors are Jacobson Staffing Corporation, of Des Moines, which Agriprocessors owes $845,000. The company owes $806,970 to Weyerhaeuser Paper Company of Chicago.

Other creditors include Alliant Energy, Postville Farmers Co-op and U.S.D.A.
Food Safety and Inspections.

Sen. Mark Zieman, R-Postville, was not surprised to learn about the bankruptcy.

"I haven't understood why they didn't do it before," he said. "They've got creditors all over them."

Zieman said he talked with Agriprocessors management over the years about paying bills to construction companies, trucking firms and other businesses who did work for the plant. The May immigration raid exacerbated the company's financial problems, he said.

"I hope we can get a new management team in there so this doesn't close," Zieman said, adding that an Agriprocessors closure would hurt several counties in northeastern Iowa.

Tom Dietrick, who owns Dietrick Turkey Farm in Cedar Falls, said Agriprocessors owes him money for a flock of 20,000 turkeys that Dietrick could not deliver to the plant following the raid.

The plant couldn't accept the turkeys because they didn't have enough workers to process the meat, Dietrick said. The 79-year-old turkey farmer sold some of the birds to other buyers, but the turkeys were older and Dietrick did not recoup his losses, he said.

"The problem I see is that the government waited 15 years to get after them," Dietrick said about the raid.

[Reb_Sholom]

Click HERE for Rubashkins Agriprocessors Chapter 11 PDF - File # 1

Click HERE for Rubashkins Agriprocessors Chapter 11 PDF - File # 2

The 2nd file includes a list of all creditors whom Rubashkin is filing Chapter 11 against.

Note The following:

On Page 11 - The Hechsher by R Weissmandel

On Page 43 - The Hechsher by R Osdoba's CHK

[Reb_Sholom]

Rubashkin Agriprocessors' Gordon Nebraska slaughterhouse closes

Associated Press - November 5, 2008 5:04 PM ET

GORDON, Neb. (AP) - A Gordon slaughterhouse run by Agriprocessors has closed because of the financial problems the kosher meat company is having.

The phone number for the Local Pride LLC plant that Agriprocessors ran was disconnected Wednesday.

And Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of the Orthodox Union, said the Local Pride plant in Gordon closed several days ago when Agriprocessors lost its line of credit because the company couldn't afford any new cattle.

The Orthodox Union is the primary certifier of kosher slaughterhouses and monitored the Gordon plant.

Agriprocessors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, but company officials have said they are seeking investors and hope to restructure the company.

http://www.ktiv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9300026

[Reb_Sholom]

Multimedia Click Here to Watch The Video


'A Lot of Pain' in Postville After Bankruptcy


By Becky Ogann


Story Created: Nov 5, 2008 at 6:35 PM CST
Story Updated: Nov 5, 2008 at 6:35 PM CST

POSTVILLE - Agriprocessors has filed for bankruptcy protection to escape foreclosure by one large creditor.

That filing Tuesday night in New York City put a scheduled federal hearing in Cedar Rapids Wednesday on hold.

One St. Louis Bank claims Agriprocessors defaulted on a $35-million loan.

Court documents say the company estimates its total debt at $50 to $100-million.

One Cedar Rapids bankruptcy attorney says you need more details to know if Agriprocessors can successfully reorganize.

"In bankruptcy there's two tests...are your assets worth more than liabilities...it appears Agriprocessors has more assets than liabilities...the second test is can you pay your bills," said Tom Fiegen, bankruptcy attorney.

Agriprocessors claimed assets ranging between $100 and $500-million.

The company's biggest unsecured creditors are a Des Moines staffing company and Weyerhaeuser Paper Company of Chicago. Both are owed more than $800,000.

Agriprocessors has seen many changes over the past year. We don't know what the staffing levels are like inside the plant. But if you talk to the people in line at the food pantry, the number of workers here is dwindling.

Every Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., the Postville food pantry opens up. Regulars here say the vast majority of people in line work at Agriprocessors.

On Wednesday though, the line was much shorter than usual. People in line say that's because many of those that work at the plant have moved away.

Tie that with the bankruptcy, and people here say there's little confidence in the future.

"Postville's not going to go back to what it was 20 years ago. We don't know what it's going to end up being. But right now, there is just a lot of pain," said Deacon Pat Malanaphy, Postville Food Bank.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/33934534.html