Peter Pan owner Rodger May makes an offer for some of the company’s assets

This spring, Peter Pan Seafoods was placed in receivership by a Washington state court after the company became unable to pay its bills. Silver Bay Seafoods stepped in to operate Peter Pan’s plants in Dillingham and Port Moller. It also made an offer for some of Peter Pan’s assets. But then one of Peter Pan’s owners came back with a counteroffer—and an accusation: that the bidding process was unfair. He recently won that battle.

Reporter Kirsten Dobroth has been covering Peter Pan for Undercurrent News. She spoke with KDLG’s Meg Duff about this summer’s developments.

Meg Duff: Peter Pan Seafoods was a fixture in Bristol Bay for decades, but last year the company ran out of money and could no longer pay its debts. It didn’t exactly go bankrupt; instead, it was placed in receivership. Can you explain what happened?

Kirsten Dobroth: Right. So, bankruptcy is typically a voluntary legal process where a company in financial trouble would seek protection from debt collection. In this case, Wells Fargo, which is Peter Pan’s primary creditor, filed a petition in a court in King County, Washington, in April to place the company into receivership, which is a way for creditors to recover debts. Another difference is that a receivership is involuntary and allows a court to appoint a neutral party to sell assets and pay off that debt.

Duff: Okay, I get it. Wells Fargo’s request was granted by the court in April.

Dobroth: Yes, exactly. Wells Fargo said in its filing that Peter Pan had missed payroll and was owed tens of millions of dollars, and the court appointed a California-based trust group to be the receiver.

Duff: Peter Pan’s King Cove processing plant is closed, and Silver Bay is managing its Dillingham plant and its Port Moller plant. But Silver Bay doesn’t own those plants. At least not yet. What’s going on there?

Dobroth: Well, that’s exactly it until now. Before all this happened, Silver Bay said that their plans for that Summers in Dillingham and Port Moller were part of its long-term restructuring plan. Silver Bay has since reiterated that it intends to work with Peter Pan’s appointed receiver on any long-term plans for the facilities. But there hasn’t been much news, at least as far as Peter Pan acquisitions go, outside of that.

Duff: This summer, while the people in Bristol Bay were busy fishing, Silver Bay put in a bid. Then Peter Pan owner Rodger May showed up to counterbid. Tell us the story of that bidding war.

Dobroth: I think it’s important to come out and say that everything we know about these offers comes from allegations made by Peter Pan co-owner Rodger May in court documents. So there’s really no paper trail to look at and say that this person offered this much for this processing plant. That said, Rodger May has argued—again, in court filings—that the lawsuit did not fairly assess the value of some of Peter Pan’s assets. He says that in one instance he learned of an offer from Silver Bay for some of these assets and made his own offer, which was not accepted. I think one of the most concrete things I’ve seen is that he can Reports are that last week Rodger May asked the court to approve his application to buy eight Peter Pan assets, including the Port Moller processing plant and the King Cove fuel business.

Duff: Oh, interesting! So May is still trying to get some of Peter Pan’s assets back, but it’s not really clear if he’s trying to get all of them back.

Dobroth: Sure.

Duff: In addition to claiming that Silver Bay had an unfair advantage, May also claimed that Peter Pan owed her money. What did the court say about these allegations?

Dobroth: Yes, again in court filings, Rodger May argued that he and his wife are also Peter Pan creditors and owed about $40 million. He also alleged that Silver Bay hired Peter Pan executives as a way to buy some of the company’s assets, which Silver Bay quickly said was not true. The court won’t necessarily rule on all of these individual things. But it recently amended the bankruptcy order at his request to allow more time and transparency for the sale of the company’s assets, which he argued would benefit junior creditors — that is, people who are owed money other than Wells Fargo.

Duff: So now May can bid on any of Peter Pan’s assets. And so can anyone else. Do we know who will end up running these facilities after the season ends, or is that still anyone’s guess?

Dobroth: Yes, there have been some rumors about facilities being for sale, but nothing has been announced. There are also assets that are not actual tangible property, such as fishing quota, so it’s hard to say who will get what when all is said and done.

Duff: Thank you, Kirsten!