Receivers appointed to manage abattoir

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 1

Receivers appointed to manage abattoir

Receivers were yesterday appointed to control the affairs of Canterbury Bye-Products Meat Processors, Ltd, which runs the Christchurch abattoir.

The receivers, Messrs A. J. Wakefield and S. W. Bullen, of the Christchurch office of the chartered accounting firm of Gilfillan Morris and Company, were appointed yesterday by Marac Corporation, Ltd, acting as agents for the Development Finance Corporation and Marac Hpng Kong, Ltd, which were the lending consortium for Canterbury Bye-Products.

The receivers said-in a statement that the other companies in the C.fi.P. Industries, Ltd, group would probably also be placed in receivership. They are Associated Meat Buyers, Ltd; C.B.P. Industries, Ltd; and North Canterbury Wool and Fellmongery, Ltd. The latter company is owned in association with Colyer Watson, Ltd, a Wellington-based wool and hides merchant. The group employs about 160 workers.

Normal trading will continue at the abattoir While the receivers try to reconstruct the company’s functions. Much of Christchurch’s meat supplies come from the abattoir and killing will continue today and for the future while the receivers investigate the company’s financial affairs. C.B.P. Industries is a cooperative of 300 Christchurch retail butchers which owns the city’s abattoir at Sock-

burn. The company bought the land and buildings from the Christchurch City council in June last year for $2.4 million after running it since 1950 under a deed of delegation from the council. Between 1973 and 1980 the company spent $4.1 million on improvements and last year its managing director, Mr A. S. Marshall, said that the acquisition of the property gave the company assets which the company could borrow against for further development to comply with Goverment regulations' on a meat export licence. The licence has not yet been obtained, and' is seen by observers as an important prerequisite if the company is to trade its way out of financial difficulties. The extent of its indebtedness is not known, but it is believed that Marac put its own accountants into the company because of the amount of capital it put into C.B.P. Industries to buy the abattoir. Some years ago the City Council raised a loan of $BOO,OOO on which all the interest and loan servicing charges' were to be met by the company. By June last year, when the company bought the abattoir, the loan had been reduced to $670,000. Under the term of the sale, the loan monies were to be repaid in full when the final settlement was made.

The group’s activities are centred on three main sites — the abattoir at Sockburn, where killing for the local market keeps about 100 workers employed; the rendering department on another site at Sockburn; and the fellmongery, which until last year was at Kaiapoi but after it was destroyed by fire has been rebuilt on a new site at Belfast and has just resumed working. In September this year an agreement was reached between the company and the Meat Workers’ Union on a voluntary redundancy for about 26 workers, which was unusual in that workers with most seniority volunteered to accept severance payments and leave. About 16 have so far left, but it is not known how the new development will affect the agreement. ■ Officials of the Canterbury branch of the Meat Workers' Union had talks with the management and receivers at the abattoir yesterday. The organiser, Mr C. Knowles, said that the aim of the union was to retain jobs, and to this end it had given an assurance to the • receivers that it would cooperate . with them in an attempt to keep the company or companies trading. Mr Knowles said that meetings with the workers at the abattoir and rendering works would be held today.