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Company bids $8.5 million for Iowa slaughterhouse
By NIGEL DUARA
,
AP
posted: 2 HOURS 44 MINUTES AGO
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -A newly formed Iowa company bid $8.5 million for a struggling kosher slaughterhouse Monday that was involved in a massive immigration raid last year.
The sale is expected to be completed next week.
SHF Industries bid for the Agriprocessors plant in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cedar Rapids. The bid includes the land, building and some equipment at the Postville plant.
Bankruptcy trustee Joe Sarachek said "moving parts" remain to be resolved in the sale process, but acknowledged that Monday's auction clears the way for the plant to finally be sold.
After the hearing, SHF attorney Anita L. Shodeen refused to identify the company's owners, and denied reports that Canadian plastics manufacturer Hershey Friedman is part of the ownership group.
"I don't know where that information about Mr. Friedman came from ... SHF Industries is a LLC with two members under Iowa law," Shodeen said. "I cannot identify them."
Iowa secretary of state's office spokesman Jarrett Schneider said limited liability companies are not required to list managers or members in their incorporation documents under Iowa law.
In late May, Sarachek identified Friedman as one of three men who owned SHF Industries. When reached by phone in late May, Friedman did not deny an interest in Agriprocessors and said at the time that he would "have something to say soon." He has since stopped returning calls seeking comment, including calls made Monday.
SHF Industries was formed May 6, according to documents from the Iowa secretary of state's office. The only party listed on incorporation documents, attorney Alexander P. Galyon, is a member of the same Des Moines law firm as Shodeen.
A telephone message left Monday for Galyon wasn't immediately returned.
Monday's hearing brings the sale closer to a conclusion after several failed attempts to sell the plant. A judge will decide July 15 whether to sign off on the deal.
The auction puts all the money Agriprocessors owed after declaring bankruptcy into one corporation. Since SHF Industries took on Agriprocessors' debt — at a significantly cheaper price — it would own the company if a bankruptcy judge agrees to the sale.
The auction was for a total of $21 million in credit owed to St. Louis-based First Bank and MLIC Asset Holding of New York City, which is affiliated with Metropolitan Life Insurance.
The pending sale also would include assets in New York and Florida; the assets in those states and Iowa have served as collateral for the two loans.
Sarachek has said the Agriprocessors assets in the sale are worth about $25 million.
Shodeen said she's confident the sale will be approved next week, though much of the equipment inside the plant is leased and wasn't purchased at Monday's auction.
"My client's goal is to continue to operate and expand the business in Postville," Shodeen said.
Immigration agents raided the Postville slaughterhouse in May 2008 and arrested 389 people, most from Mexico and Guatemala.
Another Agriprocessors asset, the Local Pride meatpacking plant in Gordon, Neb., is not a part of the sale and will be sold separately.


This is immigration enforcement done the right way. This should be a lesson for ALL who employ illegal aliens - employ them and risk losing your company and jail time. Any illegal aliens found MUST be deported!![/quote]