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New owners of Ceatech look
toward expansion on Kauai
Things are moving slowly but surely for the
new ownership team of the Kekaha-based
shrimp farm Ceatech USA Inc.
Sunrise Capital LLC purchased the assets
of the bankrupt facility in late June. Ceatech
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
from creditors March 22. Kelvin Taketa, chief executive of the Hawaii
Community Foundation (HCF) and the principal
of Sunrise Capital LLC said he expected the
actual sale to close in September. Taketa said the company is a private venture,
and not related to HFC, a statewide, charitable-services
organization that manages $265 million in
resources. He
said he and the four other principals of
Sunrise Capital LLC were in the process
of formulating plans for restoring the operation
and were committed to making the venture
work to create jobs and help diversify Kaua‘i's
economy.
"Our reason for doing this is to design
and create an aquaculture industry. It is
our expectation this will be a sustainable
long-term business," he said.
Taketa said he could envision raising other
types of shrimp and seafood products not
just for the local food market but for potential
export to Asia as well. Taketa said the $389,000 purchase price
was not that much of a bargain given what
Sunrise will have to invest to get the shrimp
farm up and running.
"The challenge for us is that it is
not like we are taking over an existing business.
It's been shut down for a year. There will
have to be a lot of deferred maintenance," he
said. Ceatech, which once sold white shrimp
farmed in brackish waters for consumption,
still operates a hatchery and broodstock
for shrimp at the state-owned land in Kekaha. Taketa said the project had received approval
from the state Department of Land and Natural
Resources to assume the leases for the hatchery site
and also received a 20-year-lease, as did
other members of the Kekaha Agricultural
Park.
Taketa
said the company had approval from the
Agribusiness Development Corporation
to expand to 443 acres across from the ponds
but could not say at this point how that
acreage would be best utilized. He said he
and the other principals of Sunrise, which
include David Cole, chief executive office
(CEO) of Maui Land & Pine; Ron Higgins,
the chairman and CEO of Digital Island, and
Bill Mills, a real estate developer, and
the former CEO of Castle & Cooke, wanted
to take a prudent approach in their plans
for restoring the operation.
Source:
Andy Gross, Business Editor
The Garden Island
Kauaiworld.com
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