No new bidders surfaced by the court-imposed deadline in the Brewster Heights Packing and Orchards bankruptcy case, meaning Legendary Fruit Co. will have the sole shot to purchase the North Central Washington fruit company.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington is scheduled to supervise a sale hearing on Sept. 14, according to court documents posted earlier this week.
Brewster Heights, owned by the sixth generation of the Gebbers farming family, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early June. Legendary Fruit, another large fruit company that is based in North Central Washington but owned by North Carolina-based investment firm International Farming, made a stalking horse — or starting point — bid of $231 million under the name of Heritage Orchard Alliance to purchase Brewster Heights’ assets. Those assets include packing houses, 8,500 acres of orchards and marketing rights to several apple varieties.
The court then set a deadline for other bidders to beat the stalking horse price. Other companies objected, and the deadline was postponed until Aug. 27, but no other suitors ultimately filed bids with the court.
Also this week, Brewster Heights and Legendary announced they had reached an agreement with a key creditor, Prudential Insurance Co. of America, that will allow the sale to move forward.
The announcement shared no details of the agreement, but court documents said that Brewster Heights owed Prudential more than $162 million in February this year.
Other Gebbers-owned fruit enterprises, including packing company Apple House, are unaffected by the bankruptcy. •
