Receiver hopes to sell DME businesses, with aim to reopen

The court-appointed receiver of Diversified Metal Engineering (DME) says it plans to sell the business as a going concern with the hope of finding a buyer to reopen the company.

The receiver, Alvarez &Marsal, was called in by the Royal Bank of Canada and wasappointed Monday.

The receivership order filed inthe Supreme Court of Prince Edward Islandincludes fivebusinesses:

• DMELimited Partnership.
• DMEGeneral Partner Inc.
• Atlantic Systems Manufacturing (2016) Ltd.
• DMECanada Acquisitions Inc.
• DMEUS HoldcoInc.

The receiversaidit iscurrently going through a review and some DMEemployees will be called back to work to complete some projects and get those to customers. The company did not say how many employees will return to work or for how long.

The receiver also said it will be paying employees owedwages and accrued vacation.

Earlier this year the CBC reported DMEemployed about 165 people in Charlottetown, 150 in Abbotsford, B.C., and about 20 in South Carolina. The South Carolina operation is not included in the receivership.

According to its website, DME createsmany different productsincludingbio extractors, marine exhaust scrubbers and cyclone separators, with most of its completed projectsin thecraft brewing industry.

The court documents also indicate the deadline to submit bids for the purchase of the company is Jan. 7, 2019, but that could change if the receiver and Royal Bank of Canada agree on a different date.

Finance offer made, saysprovince

The P.E.I. government made an offer of financing to DME before the company went into receivership, according to the province's executive director of public affairs.

Mary Moszynski told media the offer was not enough to keep the company from going under.

Where were you before these employees needed help when you could've helped a local company? Steven Myers

But the province's Minister of Economic Development Chris Palmer made no mention of the offer during question period Tuesday, as the Opposition asked repeatedly what government had done to try to prevent the company closing its doors.

"What discussions did your department have with the company about trying to avoid this terrible turn of events?" PC MLA Steven Myers asked Palmer. It was one of five variations on the same question, most of which elicited a similar response.

"We're very concerned with the workers in this situation," Palmer answered. "We're doing everything we can to help the affected workers."

"I've asked him several times in this House today why he wasn't there to support a local company when he knew they were going into receivership," Myerssaid. "Where were you before these employees needed help when you could've helped a local company on Prince Edward Island stay afloat?"

"We became aware of this situation over the weekend," Palmersaid.

"We weren't currently in any discussions with the company but we have been very active in the file all weekend and coming into this week, and we're looking at all options. We're there to provide support and the company knows we're there for support for their employees and anything we can do to help with either an acquisition by somebody coming in to buy the company or to help those employees find new work."

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