New pig breeding company buys ACMC assets from administration

A new company called Pure Pig Genetics Ltd has bought many of the assets of pig breeding and production company Agricultural Contract and Marketing Company (ACMC).

ACMC went into administration on 27 April this year and a creditor’s report is expected in the next few weeks. The new company, based at Beeford, East Yorkshire, is owned by ACMC’s former managing director Matthew Curtis.

Pure Pig Genetics has bought ACMC’s Oakwood nucleus herd at Burton Agnes, its Gene Bank Stud AI operation and has taken over worldwide franchise contracts as well as the ACMC high health multiplication contracts in the UK.

See also: Pig units for sale in ACMC administration

It has also bought ACMC’s breed genetic rights, brand names and intellectual property, its PigCom herd management system and the Genetic Evaluation Program.

The new business was funded through the sale of farms and other assets such as plant and machinery, said Mr Curtis. It employs eight former ACMC staff, with geneticist Ed Sutcliffe working as an independent consultant.

The new company would have a smaller European-based breeding herd of 600-700 sows in the UK and in Spain, said Mr Curtis. This would put its smaller finishing operation at less risk of feed and pig price fluctuations, he said.

Bob Maxwell and Rob Sadler of Begbies Traynor were appointed joint administrators of ACMC on 27 April. It was a private, family business established in 1990 and had 35 staff.

Mr Maxwell said that it was unlikely that ACMC’s bank would be repaid in full, while there was likely to be a small dividend to unsecured creditors, although the extent of this would probably not be known until late summer. This would come from what is known as the “prescribed part”, a proportion of a floating charge on the assets of a company in administration which is set aside for unsecured creditors.

The administrators were continuing to gather money owed to the company and from the sale of other assets, he said. ACMC’s creditors included feed suppliers, vets, and the company’s directors.