'some interest' in bankrupt stirling pharma

ChronicalHerald Article.

The receiver overseeing the sale of the bankrupt pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in North Sydney is hopeful a new operator can be found.

Thursday is the deadline for submitting bids on the assets of Stirling Pharma Inc.

“We have had some interest,” Marianne MacSween, a trustee with MGM Inc. of Sydney said Tuesday. “We have had some people come from different countries, different provinces of this country to view the plant.”

Most potential buyers who have toured the 46,000-square-foot facility are from the pharmaceutical industry, MacSween said. But there has also been some interest from other sectors.

“The preference is to sell it as a going concern for a number of reasons. One is to keep employment in this area. If you sell it piecemeal, then you’re taking that potential employer out of the area.”

Stirling Pharma bought the assets of Keata Pharma Inc. in March 2010 for $3.6 million. Keata had gone into receivership in 2009 after building the $12-million plant and promising to employ more than 200 workers.

Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. had contributed $6.5 million to Keata Pharma but did not provide funding to Stirling Pharma, which wasn’t able to get its operation off the ground. But the federal Crown corporation is listed as a creditor because it holds the property mortgage.

Enterprise Cape Breton is the largest secured creditor at $2.2 million, followed by Labki Finance Inc. of Halifax at $1.4 million, according to bankruptcy documents.

The Cape Breton operation also owes unsecured creditors $2 million. The largest is the Australian parent company, Stirling Products Ltd., which registered a $1.2-million claim. The Australian company was placed in receivership in July, according to web-based reports in that country.

MacSween said it is too soon to say how much of the $5.6 million creditors are owed will be paid. The receiver will review the bids and make recommendations to a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge in Sydney, she said.

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link: http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/31086-some-interest-bankrupt-stirling-pharma-assets-receiver-says