Mountaire Farms announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement to acquire a former Townsend poultry processing plant in Siler City, North Carolina. The company has announced that it will begin renovating and upgrading the plant immediately. It is expected the expansion will create more than 500 new jobs. Mountaire is based in Millsboro, Delaware but also operates facilities in Maryland and North Carolina.
Mountaire is also acquiring property adjoining the processing plant. The company plans to expand a hatchery it recently acquired in Siler City and is also working to identify a location to build a feed mill.
“Mountaire Farms has a long tradition of producing high quality poultry products for our domestic and international customers. The increasing demand for our products requires us to expand our production and we believe North Carolina is the perfect place for that growth. Mountaire has a deep-rooted commitment to quality, service, and value and we look forward to growing our business in North Carolina and strengthening the ties we have with the local communities,” said Paul Downes, Mountaire president and CEO.
John Grimes, Siler City Mayor, said “Today we got fabulous economic development news. This is the type of news we have long awaited and are quite excited about. Mountaire Farms is opening a fully integrated-integrated operation in our community. It will mean many hundreds of jobs for our people, revitalize several existing structures, including the former Townsend plant as well as the former Kellwood (Glendale) plant, and infuse money, in the form of payroll and added services into our local economy. I applaud and congratulate each and every one who has worked so diligently to make this fabulous news a reality for Siler City. We welcome Mountaire Farms and thank them for this vote of confidence in our community.”
Delaware-based Townsend filed for bankruptcy in December 2010 after more than 100 years in business as a result of the high cost of corn and weak chicken prices. Subsequently, Townsend’s North Carolina assets were acquired by Oleg Bakhmatyuk, a Ukrainian billionaire, for $24.9 million in February 2011. Omtron, the U.S. corporation Bakhmatyuk created, spent $7 million upgrading the Silver City plant. However, Omtron abruptly announced in July 2011 that it would close the facilities and lay off workers. Omtron was later forced to sell its assets at auction, which were acquired by a group led by Rabin Worldwide for $5.36 million. Rabin subsequently sold about 80 percent of the equipment contained in Siler City plant.
