A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the sale of an American subsidiary of Pacific Andes International, which filed for reorganization last year in bankruptcy court.
Judge James Garrity’s decision means National Fish and Seafood has 10 days to find an investment banker to manage the sale of its assets. The sale of National, which was not listed in Pacific Andes filing, was proposed in a court filing on 7 September.
On 30 June, 2016, Pacific Andes filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. The Hong Kong-based multinational corporation listed assets of HKD 36.7 billion (USD 4.7 billion, EUR 4 billion) and debt of HKD 19.5 billion (USD 2.5 billion, EUR 2.1 billion). However, the company had been pressed by major creditors, including HSBC and Bank of America, for a reorganization plan after the company missed a HKD 242 million (USD 31 million, EUR 26.3 million) payment toward a HKD 5.1 billion (USD 650 million, EUR 552.5 million) loan.
Pacific Andes runs a fleet of commercial fishing vessels that work across the globe as well as processing plants on several continents.
National Fish and Seafood, based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, runs a 66,000-square-foot processing facility that processes more than 40,000 tons of seafood, including fish fillets and shrimp, annually. The company produces items under its own brand as well as Matlaw’s and Schooner, with Matlaw’s stuffed clams serving as one of its best-known products.
The sale is the latest blow for National Fish. In July, Richard Pandolfo, a former sales executive at the company, was sentenced to six month of home confinement and one year of probation after pleading guilty to tax fraud.
