Alaskan Public Media has reported that Pacific Seafood could be considering a deal to purchase Peter Pan's former King Cove, Alaska, U.S.A.-based processing plant. 

Peter Pan shuttered the King Cove processing facility in January 2024, which was the company’s largest processing plant covering a range of species, including king crab, oplio crab, Tanner crab, Alaska pollock, cod, salmon, halibut, black cod, and more. The plant has some of the largest salmon canning capacity in Alaska, but financial challenges forced Peter Pan to cease operations.

Soon after the closure, Peter Pan was pushed into receivership after Wells Fargo, its biggest lender, filed a legal request following the processing company going past due on payment. The ensuing bankruptcy case saw a series of court battles over bids for the company’s physical assets, both of which were ultimately won by Peter Pan Co-Owner Rodger May. Silver Bay Seafoods later acquired some of Peter Pan’s other facilities, but May continues to own the still-closed King Cove plant.

Now, Alaskan Public reported that King Cove Mayor Warren Wilson said at a recent local assembly meeting that representatives of Pacific Seafood had visited the King Cove plant.

“They were very impressed with the plant, and they are moving forward with some talks on acquiring the facility," Wilson said.

Pacific Seafood told SeafoodSource that it has no comment on the King Cove facility.

"We are always evaluating opportunities, but we have nothing to share at this stage,” Pacific Seafood Director of Government and External Affairs Lacy Ogan told SeafoodSource.

King Cove City Administrator Gary Hennigh told Alaska Public that the plant was a major economic driver for the community, which has 800 residents, and generated 70 percent of the revenue. Its closure has left the community in the lurch without that revenue.

"We're not quite living on borrowed time yet, but we're getting pretty darn close," Hennigh said.

The King Cove facility was recently at the center of a ProPublica investigation that found an Alaskan public fund lost more than $29 million on a deal that helped May acquire the facility from Maruha Nichiro in November 2020. 

This article was published with permission from Seafood Source. Read the full article on Seafood Source.