071259 Company Offers to Buy Bankrupt Topps MeatDecember 31, 2007The local owners of Topps Meat Co., the company at the heart of last fall’s massive beef product recall, are expected to sell off the bankrupt New Jersey meat company next month. Premio Foods, of Hawthorne, N.J., is seeking to purchase Topps Meat via a federal bankruptcy proceeding in a deal that could close as early as Jan. 10. Buffalo-based Strategic Investments & Holdings, a private equity firm which has owned Topps since 2003, could not be reached to comment Monday. Documents filed with a federal bankruptcy court in New Jersey indicate Premio has offered $794,605 for the Topps trademarks, as well as its physical assets. The deal would include equipment and property of the Elizabeth, N.J.-based Topps, and more than 1.8 million pounds of potentially E. coli-contaminated meat. The proposed asset purchase agreement filed with the court indicates Premio will pay 10 cents per pound for some 1.3 million of packaged inventory, and five cents per pound for nearly 536,000 pounds of raw meat. Under federal law, Premio will be required to destroy all the leftover product that is still sitting in Topps warehouses. In September, Topps recalled 21.7 million pounds of meat, the nation’s second- largest beef recall, after some of its packaged meat products were found to be tainted with E. coli bacteria. The federal Centers for Disease Control said more than 100 people in eight states and Canada became sickened after eating Topps beef. On the heels of the recall and production halt, the 67- year-old meat company closed its doors, and went on to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy in late November. A joint investigation by U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has determined the source of the E. coli contamination to be a Canadian meat supplier, Ranchers Beef Ltd., of Balzac, Alberta. Ranchers Beef is now banned from exporting products to the United States. Post-recall investigations by USDA staffers found Topps had lax standards for testing of meat acquired from non-domestic sources. The inspectors also found Topps mixed tested and untested meats. In a late September interview with The Buffalo News, Strategic Investments President Gary Brost said that while the Buffalo group had controlling interest in the New Jersey meat business, “the day-to-day business was run by Topps Meat’s management.” Formerly one the country’s top producers of packaged meat products, including preformed hamburger patties sold under various brand names, Topps had annual sales of more than $90 million. A Jan. 8 court date has been set for review of Premio’s bid for Topps.
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