Court documents show Monette looking to sell all 274,000 acres

REGINA — Monette Farms will ask the court June 12 to approve a plan that includes listing all of the company’s farm property for sale as of June 29.

If the court agrees, Darrel Monette could sell all of his 274,000 acres. The sale and investment process, or SISP, would be carried out by the court-appointed monitor, FTI Consulting Inc.

You can follow all our coverage of Monette Farms here.

The plan would also extend Monette’s stay of proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act from June 19 to Nov. 13, according to the most recent court filings.

The application asks the court to approve and expedite the sale of any real property in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba where the purchase price is less than $30 million.

“Requiring a full oral hearing for each individual sale would be economically inefficient,” said Monette’s affidavit.

The proposed SISP includes sending teaser letters and non-disclosure agreements to all known potential bidders as defined in the plan’s terms.

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Binding bids would be due Oct. 15 and the companies would seek approval of successful bids by Oct. 31 for those submitted by Sept. 1. For bids made after Sept. 2 and before Oct. 15 the SISP end date would apply.

The SISP would end just before midnight on the date when Monette fully repays about $90 million in debtor-in-possession obligations and senior secured creditors or at noon on Nov. 30, whichever is earlier.

Monette has already found property brokers to help sell the diverse properties.

Interested parties could also submit proposals to invest in Monette companies for “restructuring, recapitalization, or other form of reorganiziation of the business and affairs of the group as a going concern.”

Another option is to propose refinancing of all the existing senior secured debt.

The companies collectively owed about $950 million to a lending syndicate led by the Bank of Nova Scotia and including Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank, CIBC, TD, Canadian Western Bank, Conexus Credit Union and Export Development Canada.

Monette’s affidavit notes that he continues to work with Scotia Wealth to resolve an outstanding $130-million life insurance policy.

He had until May 25 to find the money to pay the premium. The Bank of Nova Scotia was owed about $7.7 million on a credit facility used to fund the premiums.

As of May 22, Monette had sold enough cattle to repay an outstanding loan to FCC, which was about $11.8 million.