PORTALES, N.M. (AP) A North Carolina company is buying an eastern New Mexico peanut-butter processing plant that went bankrupt after a salmonella outbreak shuttered its operations and prompted a nationwide recall last year. According to the Portales News-Tribune, Severn, N.C.-headquartered Hampton Farms made the winning bid of $20 million in an auction Thursday for the Sunland Inc. plant.
The plant in Portales is now in U.S. Bankruptcy Court proceedings, and Sunland attorneys had valued the company's total assets at $50 million when it sought bankruptcy protection last fall. The company owes its three major secured creditors about $14 million.
Lawyers for Hampton Farms declined comment, and Sunland President Jimmie Shearer said he has not communicated with Hampton Farms about what it plans to do with the plant.
