Rodger May, the co-owner of Peter Pan Seafoods, which entered receivership on 25 April, is fighting it out with Silver Bay Seafoods to buy up the distressed company’s assets.
May, who has served as Peter Pan’s president and chief growth officer since joining a consortium, which included his firm Northwest Fish Co., McKinley Alaska Private Investment-managed Na’-Nuk Investment Fund, and RRG Global Partners Fund, to buy it from Maruha Nichiro in 2021, submitted several unsuccessful bids for Peter Pan’s assets, which are being sold off by the Stapleton Group – a financial consultancy firm appointed as controller of the company’s assets on 25 April by the judge overseeing the case, which was filed in King County Superior Court in the U.S. state of Washington on 22 April.
In an affidavit filed 5 June, May said he and his wife, Lisa May, are owed at least USD 37 million (EUR 34 million) from Peter Pan, making them two of the company’s largest creditors, in the form of loans made in February and May 2023. Additionally, May said he has not been remunerated for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages and that he personally guaranteed USD 24 million (EUR 22 million) in company debt to product development firm Calkins & Burke and to logistics firm Delta Western. However, May claims he is likely to lose his entire equity stake in the company, which he valued at USD 65 million (EUR 59.7 million).
"At this point, if events continue to unfold as they have been, I do not see a realistic scenario in which I recover any of that value," May said in his declaration.
May vociferously objected to negotiations of a sale of most of Peter Pan’s assets by the Stapleton Group to Silver Bay Seafoods, which previously finalized an agreement to take over Peter Pan’s Alaska operations in April. According to court documents, Silver Bay has offered USD 35 million (EUR 32.1 million) for Peter Pan’s canned seafood inventory and a one-third share in the Kent Warehousing and Labeling facility in Kent, Washington.
May countered with a USD 36 million (EUR 33 million) offer for the same assets and made separate offers of USD 31 million (EUR 28.5 million) for the canned stock alone, USD 4.6 million (EUR 4.2 million) for the interest in the KWL facility alone, and USD 4.3 million (EUR 4 million) for Peter Pan’s Port Moller, Alaska, processing plant. Alternatively, May offered USD 58 million (EUR 53.3 million) for all of Peter Pan’s inventory, as well as the Port Moller plant and the share in the KWL warehouse.
“I recently became aware that the receiver was attempting to sell significant assets of Peter Pan for what I believe to be less than fair-market value in a process that failed to take advantage of an open bidding process that would generate greater value for the receivership estate and its creditors,” May said. “I have been attempting to work with the receiver to acquire certain assets and am ready, willing, and able to meet or exceed other third-party offers, including offers by Silver Bay – with equal access to materials for due diligence.”
May claimed Silver Bay hired away Peter Pan’s former CEO, Kevin Bixler, in January 2024 and that Bixler has given his new employer sensitive, non-public information that has pushed down Silver Bay’s offering price for Peter Pan’s assets.
“To me, this is a strong indication that Silver Bay may have been able to leverage non-public information of Peter Pan in subsequent negotiations, whereby Silver Bay (a Peter Pan competitor) has been able to cherry-pick and acquire Peter Pan assets on terms that are highly favorable to Silver Bay,” May said. “After the initiation of Peter Pan’s receivership, Silver Bay has continued its efforts to acquire Peter Pan assets on terms that I believe are below fair-market value and not in the best interests of Peter Pan’s creditors.”
May complained he has been locked out of negotiations on the sale of most of Peter Pan’s assets and has not received responses to his offers.
“Without notice and an opportunity to object to the receiver’s potential transactions with third parties, I am extremely concerned that millions of dollars of value will be lost. That loss would reduce the amount of funds available for distribution to creditors whose claims are junior to Wells Fargo’s claims, including (without limitation) both myself and other creditors whose debts I have personally guaranteed,” he said.
May said he opposed the original appointment of a receiver, though the co-owners of Peter Pan – who, like May, own 50 percent of the entity – approved of the move. He did acknowledge his successful purchase of 500,000 pounds of Peter Pan product through the Stapleton Group, claiming he paid prices up to 10 percent above what had previously been bid, and promised similar higher-priced transactions if given access to the Stapleton Group’s negotiations over the sale of Peter Pan’s other assets.
“Given my decades of experience in the seafood industry and role with Peter Pan over the past few years, it is my belief that I am uniquely positioned and most qualified to assist the Receiver with liquidation of Peter Pan’s assets for maximum value as I am the most knowledgeable person left on Peter Pan’s payroll,” he said. “It also helps the industry more broadly by maintaining prices, rather than flooding the market with below market price product, harming the whole industry even more. Much for the same reasons that Peter Pan is in its current position, the broader Alaskan seafood industry has been struggling. My personal belief is that I have an obligation to do what I can to support industry participants and Peter Pan’s creditors, which includes myself, to obtain the highest and best price for Peter Pan’s assets in a very short time frame.”
May offered to acquire Wells Fargo’s remaining debt and work toward liquidating the remainder of Peter Pan’s assets after Silver Bay pays down the USD 12 million (EUR 11 million) he claims it owes Peter Pan “based on its obligation to acquire certain Peter Pan materials, which became due and payable May 2024.”
However, in a statement sent to SeafoodSource, Silver Bay CEO Cora Campbell denied May’s claims.
“Kevin Bixler’s hire was done transparently and did not affect Silver Bay’s acquisition of Peter Pan assets. We have also offered jobs to other staff and markets to fishermen who were affected when Peter Pan ceased operations,” Campbell said. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith with the court-appointed receiver.
“A significant portion of this inventory is encumbered by liens filed before the receivership. Third-party warehousemen are demanding payment in full prior to releasing the inventory to the receiver for sale,” it said. “Accordingly, the receiver and the company performed an analysis to target both the most saleable and the largest quantities of inventory to negotiate pay-downs of these vendors in exchange for the release of the associated liens, allowing the receiver to accommodate the transportation and sale of the inventory thereafter.”
The Stapleton Group has also commenced winterization and preservation of the Peter Pan’s King Cove facility, which Silver Bay previously said will not operate this summer. And, it has collected USD 5 million (EUR 4.6 million) in insurance payouts from two fires that occurred before Peter Pan entered receivership.
Approximately 42 employees remain on Peter Pan’s payroll, which has been reduced to USD 80,000 (EUR 73,000) per week. A wind-down of the company’s 401K and benefit plans has commenced, and the Stapleton Group has commenced a data storage process to ensure the company’s intellectual property is preserved.
The Stapleton Group is also working to resolve eight active legal cases against it, including one involving a former employee, Kirk Hoch, and several claims made by the owners of fishing vessels, including the F/V Aleutian Endurance LLC and F/V Northern Endurance, the F/V Marahute, the F/V Winter Bay, the F/V Rondys, and the F/V Arctic Lady. Peter Pan is also being sued by RLB Vessel and Northern Sales Company.
