Two bidders show interest in Stirling Pharma assets November 10, 2011 - 5:44pm By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Two bidders are interested in buying the assets of an insolvent pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in North Sydney.
The receiver overseeing the bankruptcy sale of the Stirling Pharma Inc. facility said it had received two offers by the deadline of 11 a.m. Thursday.
“I can’t say anymore about them,” Marianne MacSween, a trustee with MGM Inc. of Sydney, said in an interview. “They have to be reviewed by the stakeholders and a decision made from there.”
She said a meeting with stakeholders to review the bids will likely be held early next week. The receiver will decide in the next couple of weeks whether to accept any of the offers and will also report to a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge in Sydney, she said.
MacSween declined to say whether the bidders want to operate the plant or liquidate its assets.
The 46,000-square-foot plant is located in Northside Business Park.
Stirling Pharma, which bought the assets of Keata Pharma Inc. in March 2006 for $3.6 million, wasn’t able to get its operation up and running. Keata had gone into receivership in 2009 after building the $12-million facility and promising to employ more than 200 people.
Creditors are owed $5.6 million, according to bankruptcy documents.
Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. is the largest secured creditor at $2.2 million, followed by Labki Finance Inc. of Halifax at $1.4 million, bankruptcy filings say.
The federal Crown corporation is listed as a creditor because it holds the property mortgage. Enterprise Cape Breton did not provide funding to Stirling Pharma but had contributed $6.5 million to Keata Pharma.
Stirling Pharma also owes unsecured creditors $2 million. The largest is the Australian parent company, Stirling Products Inc., which registered a $1.2-million claim. Stirling Products was placed in receivership in July, according to web-based reports in that country.
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