By Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL – Lambert Ice Cream, which last year purchased the production facilities of Ontario’s Stoney Creek Dairy, is being liquidated a couple of weeks after declaring bankruptcy for the second time.
The Quebec-based company’s assets, including its trademark, inventory and equipment in Lachine and near Hamilton are being sold to help pay $8.8 million owed to some 300 creditors.
Lambert doesn’t own the land or buildings that houses its two production facilities.
“The company is bankrupt, it has stopped operating and the assets of the business are up for sale,” Michel Marleau of monitor Ernst & Young said.
The firm took out newspaper ads Friday announcing that bids would be accepted until Oct. 26. Prospective buyers can tour the sites next week.
Marleau said there have been expressions of interest but, wouldn’t disclose the number or how much the assets could fetch.
Lambert obtained protection from its creditors in June under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
Unsecured creditors are owed nearly $6.9 million. More than half is owed to the Caisse populaire Desjardins and the Business Development Bank, which also have $1.8 million in secured claims.
Other unsecured creditors include former employees, former owner Georges Gaucher and suppliers.
A creditors meeting will take place Oct. 27 in Montreal under the direction of Ernst & Young.
About 40 workers at the company’s plant near Montreal lost their jobs when production stopped Sept. 30.
Lambert had closed the Ontario facility after purchasing Stoney Creek Dairy last spring for $7.6 million. The plant had once employed 100 workers, but was reduced to about 30 as the ice cream maker tried to adjust to the recession.
The Stoney Creek Dairy bar was hived off and continued to operate.
Founded in 1929, it began to produce ice cream in 1942 and underwent several owners before Lambert came along.
Lambert, best known in Quebec for producing Christmas log cakes, bought the Ontario ice cream producer in hopes of increasing sales outside Quebec while shifting production to its base.
Founded in 1956, Lambert declared bankruptcy for the first time in 2003, two years after the death of founder Geoffrey Lambert. Operations were restarted six months later after being purchased by four investors.
At one time, Lambert Ice Cream was Quebec’s largest producer of frozen desserts. Its sales reached $12 million, with one quarter coming from Christmas logs.
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