Port Moller limbo

A recent court order calls into question the ownership of a remote Southwest Alaska seafood processing plant.

The Port Moller plant was among assets of failed processor Peter Pan. The plant was sold at auction in 2024 to Rodger May, who was Peter Pan's owner, and a Washington court approved the sale.

But on July 9, Alaska Superior Court Judge Laura Hartz ruled the Washington court lacked jurisdiction to dispose of property in Alaska without approval of the Alaska court.

The judge concluded that John Ketcham, who had loaned Peter Pan money, has a first priority lien against the Port Moller plant.

The plant currently is under lease to Silver Bay Seafoods, which is using it not to process fish but to provide support services for area fleets.

John Ketcham v. Rodger May

This 12-page lawsuit, filed yesterday, involves a fight over a piece of Peter Pan Seafood — the remote Port Moller processing plant.

Another major announcement from Silver Bay

Silver Bay Seafoods says it will acquire processing plants at Dillingham and Port Moller, adding: "As part of this acquisition, Silver Bay has committed to participating in the working group formed by Rodger May to address the future of the former Peter Pan Seafoods facility in King Cove."

More in this press release.

Whither Peter Pan?

Tomorrow, we may learn the ultimate fate of Peter Pan, the legacy Alaska seafood processor that halted operations earlier this year.

Contenders including Rodger May and Silver Bay Seafoods are vying for what remains of the company.

May is a Seattle-area entrepreneur who's been involved in everything from seafood to movies. He became the lead owner of Peter Pan in early 2021, when he and other investors acquired the distressed company from Japanese seafood titan Maruha Nichiro.

In April, Wells Fargo Bank petitioned for appointment of a receiver for Peter Pan.

Since then, the court-appointed receiver has moved to sell off Peter Pan's assets.

May's bid for the company's remaining assets has been deemed the top offer, valued at about $37.3 million.

Wells Fargo likes the offer, but several other parties have filed objections.

A hearing on approval of the sale of assets is set for tomorrow in King County Superior Court in Seattle.

The Peter Pan fire sale

Rodger May, half owner of the collapsed processor Peter Pan Seafood, has won an auction for an assortment of the company's remaining assets, edging out a competing bid from Silver Bay Seafoods.

A notice filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, where Peter Pan is being liquidated through receivership proceedings, indicates May bid $37,324,000 to Silver Bay's $37,067,320.

Results of the bid are subject to court approval.

May's bid consists of a $25,324,000 cash component and a $12 million credit bid, court papers show.

Here's a table designating the purchase price for individual assets.

Some of the prices seem shockingly low for properties once regarded as crown jewels in Alaska's seafood industry. For example, the price for the huge King Cove processing plant is $200,000 cash ($1 for the real property and fixtures, and $199,999 for the equipment and machinery).

The Dillingham processing plant has a purchase price of $11 million, but only $3 million of that in cash.

The most expensive sale item appears to be equipment and machinery in the Port Moller processing plant, priced at $8.75 million cash. This makes sense, as the Port Moller plant was rebuilt in 2018 following a fire.

Will these Peter Pan assets function again as they once did? That remains to be seen.

More Peter Pan news

Proceedings continue in the case of Peter Pan, the legacy seafood processor now in receivership.

The latest twist is an offer from Peter Pan's president, Rodger May, to acquire certain assets, including the Port Moller processing plant, for $15 million.

For more details about the proposal, plus some interesting remarks about Silver Bay Seafoods, see this 18-page motion filed in King County Superior Court.

Peter Pan owner invests in farm startup LocalCoho

Here's the press release.