A Washington state judge approved a deal on Thursday giving the assets of Peter Pan Seafoods to the company’s former co-owner Rodger May, a decision that follows months of controversy over the seafood processing company, which ceased operations this year.
May placed the winning bid for the company’s assets at auction last month, but the sale wasn’t approved until Thursday’s hearing, when King County Judge Steven Olsen signed the motion to approve the $37.3 million sale, which includes processing plants in Dillingham, King Cove and Port Moller.
“I really haven’t heard anybody say that the receiver failed to comply with that order approving the sale,” Olsen said.
Peter Pan Seafood Company was placed into a court-ordered receivership back in April at the request of Wells Fargo, which pointed to more than $60 million in debt owed by the Alaskan processing company. A receivership is a process similar to bankruptcy, but intended to protect a company’s lender. Both Wells Fargo and the court-appointed receiver, the Los Angeles-based Stapleton Group, supported the deal proposed by May.
However, more than 90 Alaska fishermen in August signed a letter that opposed selling Peter Pan’s assets back to May, saying that May had broken the fishing community’s trust by not paying fishermen.
“Mr. Rodger May and co-owners have done irreparable harm to the many people and their families that make their living from the commercial fisheries on the Alaska Peninsula,” they wrote. “There are still many fishermen that have not been paid for fish they delivered as well as vendors and tenders not being paid for goods and services provided.”
It’s unclear how the sale will affect King Cove, which relied on the processing facility as its main economic driver until it closed in January.
May acquired Peter Pan back in 2020 with the backing of California-based RRG Capital Management and McKinley Capital Management, which used funds from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation’s in-state investment program.
May attended the meeting on Zoom but did not speak during the hearing. May also did not respond to a request for comment from KUCB.
