Cranston, Rhode Island, U.S.A.-based Great Northern Products has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Great Northern specializes in purchasing, importing, distributing, and exporting primarily frozen crab, shrimp, lobster, scallops, groundfish, and salmon processed by its partner plants in Canada, the United States, and South America. It is a supplier to domestic and international wholesale distributors, restaurant groups, supermarket chains, buying groups, and food producers.
The company filed its paperwork with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Rhode Island on 28 February 2024, listing assets of between USD 1 million and USD 10 million (EUR 921,000 and EUR 9.2 million), and liabilities in the same range. Great Northern CEO George A. Nolan is listed as owning 100 percent of the enterprise.
Great Northern faces a hearing on 4 March 2024 during which U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Diane Finkle will decide whether to allow it to use cash collateral to cover the USD 788,934 (EUR 726,621) balance due on a loan issued by Berkshire Bank. The company said it has “no unencumbered assets available to secure alternative financing of its continued operation,” and that it is unable to obtain unsecured credit under the current terms of its financial obligations.
In 2018, Great Northern received a USD 15 million (EUR 13.8 million) credit line from Berkshire Bank, but its credit line was downsized in September 2023 to USD 5.5 million (EUR 5.1 million). Great Northern is also listed as holding a security interest on a USD 500,000 (EUR 460,000) Economic Injury Disaster Loan made during the Covid-19 epidemic, though court documents list the company’s payments on that loan as current.
Great Northern said it had negotiated the terms of its Chapter 11 agreement with Berkshire Bank and just needed the approval of the court to advance its revised plan. It asked for the court’s permission to …
