Case Studies

Receivership of a Dairy Farm

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The Situation

A $75 million dairy business operating multiple farms with approximately 20,000 head of cattle had dragged its bank through a long Chapter 11 Bankruptcy as it attempted to reorganize.  The business had failed to liquidate assets pursuant to the Bankruptcy Court’s ruling.  The bank eventually moved for relief from stay to appoint a receiver to take control of the operations and complete a liquidation.

How We Advised

The bank appointed our experts as receivers to bring a close to the bankruptcy.

Achieved a 100% payoff for the bank through the successful receivership of a large dairy business. Our experts served as interim CEO/CFO of the dairy operation while simultaneously selling its farms, animals, and transport assets in a timely manner. The complex process involved significant coordination between stock yards, auction yards, ranch hands, long-haul trucking, buyers, brokers, defendant’s accounting team, dairy cooperatives, veterinarians, and feed suppliers.

Obstacles & Our Solutions

  • The large business included operating dairies, farms and a transportation company.
    • We took control of operations as Interim CEO/CFO and identified and implemented management strategies.
    • Our team immediately identified all assets, consisting of dairy cows, dairy barns, dairy and crop land, key personnel, animal feed, milk pool quota, dairy cooperative retainers, and numerous farming and transport vehicles.
    • We ensured the dairy cows’ health, carefully managing cash flow to ensure feed suppliers and other key vendors were paid.
  • A pre-existing process to sell the dairies and farm had been implemented by the business’s management.
    • Our experts were required to assume the leadership of the pre-existing sales process. We worked extensively with the broker and buyer, managing operational requirements and court approvals to assure the property sales would close.
  • Assets needed to be liquidated to generate the highest proceeds possible.
    • We negotiated and audited the sale of cows, facilitated by a local stock yard, to assure all proceeds were delivered to the receiver and, ultimately, to the bank.
    • We assembled the assets of the defendant’s transportation company and coordinated the commercial auction of vehicles through a local auction yard and a direct sale to tractor-trailer purchasers.
    • We coordinated the sale of all excess feed.
  • The business’s milk pool quota needed to be fulfilled.
    • Our team managed the sale of all milk pool quota and worked with dairy co-ops to assure the return of all money owed to the respective dairies.
    • We worked with certain milk purchasers to ensure milk proceeds belonging to the receivership were delivered to the receiver and, ultimately, to the bank.

Key Contact

David Stapleton, CPA, CLPF 
Senior Managing Director 
Strategic Advisory Practice 
+1 213 235 0601 
[email protected] 

Related Practice Areas

> Receiverships 
Federal and state courts, creditors, and legal counsel choose our team to serve as Receiver of distressed businesses and real estate entities. We stabilize operations and cash flow, safeguard business assets, and pursue methods to maximize financial recovery. Our multidisciplinary team applies a wide breadth of restructuring and industry experience as Receiver to take control of companies facing financial, operational, and legal issues. 
 

 

> Solutions for Distressed Situations 
We deliver integrated solutions for distressed and insolvent businesses that maximize recovery, mitigate risk, and restore enterprise value. Our experts are retained to help distressed organizations stabilize operations, protect stakeholder interests, and execute turnaround strategies. We take an operationally-focused approach that looks beyond the balance sheet to minimize further degradation and build a path to sustainable growth. 

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