WAUKESHA - Illinois-based Lifeway
Foods has purchased the shuttered Golden Guernsey plant
for $7.3 million, and company officials plan to re-open
the plant.Bankruptcy Trustee Charles Stanziale said
Lifeway purchased the plant during a very competitive
auction at his New Jersey-based law firm Tuesday
morning, and that Superior Dairy's parent company fell
just shy of the high bid by offering $7.2 million. It
had previously offered $5.5 million for the plant and
the machinery inside it.
"These people seem to be very in sync with operating
the plant, and talking to previous employees who are not
otherwise employed to get things going once they get a
feel for the place," Stanziale said.
Lifeway's CEO Julie Smolyansky said on Twitter
Tuesday afternoon that she was excited to announce that
Lifeway had purchased the Golden Guernsey dairy and that
more details would be announced soon.
A judge will have to approve the sale at a sale
hearing on June 10, and the closing would take place
within 20 days of a court order approving the sale,
Stanziale said.
Stanziale has said in the past that hešs been
primarily interested in buyers who would keep the dairy
operating, rather than liquidate its assets.
The Delafield Street plant closed suddenly Jan. 5,
leaving more than 100 employees scrambling to search for
new employment, health insurance and more.
