About a week and a half after announcing that it was filing for Chapter 11 reorganization, Aurora, Ill.-based Oberweis Dairy Inc. has received a stalking horse bid to purchase “substantially all the operating assets of the company pursuant to section 363 of the bankruptcy code and subject to court approval,” according to an email shared with Food Processing. A Law360 article says that the value of the stalking horse bid was $20 million.
The email from Oberweis states that the bid comes from Brian Boomsma, who co-founded Chicago-based dairy and eggs producer Dutch Farms. Boomsma plans to operate and grow the business, the announcement noted — a positive development following last week’s announcement that the company’s North Aurora, Ill., plant would be shuttered in the wake of the Chapter 11 filing.
Oberweis president Adam Kraber said in the announcement: “We are thrilled to have a business leader like Brian Boomsma interested in investing in Oberweis and enabling the company to continue to move forward and prosper. We continue to be grateful to our loyal customers, vendors, and committed employees who have supported us through this process.”
The reorganization process and sale are expected to be completed in late June, at which point the business will emerge under new ownership, and the Oberweis team now has additional optimism for the future of the company after nearly 100 years in the dairy business.
