Receiver takes over debt-laden Barnes Family Farms

Barnes Family Farms Corp., the eastern North Carolina business that is among the nation’s largest sweetpotato growers, is now led by a court-appointed receiver after defaulting on $40 million of loans with a large Dutch bank.

Bạn đang xem: Receiver takes over debt-laden Barnes Family Farms

Johnny Barnes, a member of NC State’s board of visitors, and his wife, Lisa Stone Barnes, are listed as defendants in a Nov. 6 order issued by Superior Court Judge Timothy Wilson. Lisa Barnes is a state senator elected to her second term in November.

Businesses listed in the order are Spring Hope-based Farm Pak Products, a grower, packer, shipper and exporter of sweetpotatoes. Spanning 21,500 acres in five counties, the family’s farms grow sweetpotatoes, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, watermelons and tobacco, its first crop dating back more than 60 years, according to the company’s website.

Wilson appointed Glenn Karlberg as limited receiver to oversee the businesses. He is a turnaround and restructuring adviser for Ampleo. The Lehi, Utah-based company provides receiver services to lenders.

The judge’s order assigned Ampleo to manage, control and sell real property such as land and buildings and personal property to repay debt incurred by the Barnes’ farming units over the past decade.

After graduating from NC State with a degree in agricultural economics in the mid-1980s, Johnny Barnes helped his late father, Carson, build a major sweetpotato business.

Xem thêm : Biden administration bans unpaid medical bills from appearing on credit reports

The elder Barnes started in the early 1960s growing tobacco on 8 acres, plus sweetpotatoes on less than a half-acre, according to his obituary in 2017. By then, Barnes Farming and Farm Pak Products had more than 14,000 acres of farmland.

Barnes is president of the Benson-based American Sweet Potato Marketing Institute Board, the board of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Labor Committee and the board of the Nash County Farm Bureau, according to his biography listed by NC State’s Board of Visitors.

Lisa Barnes, a Republican, represents Franklin, Nash and Vance counties in District 11. Earlier, she served as a state representative and a Nash County commissioner.

The couple is now ceding control of the family’s businesses to the receiver.

Calls seeking comment from the Barnes family were not immediately returned. Charlie Livermon, a Raleigh lawyer representing Rabo AgriFinance, declined comment. Jason Hendren, a Raleigh lawyer for the Barnes’ businesses, didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Basically, the receiver takes over the businesses, with wide-ranging duties that include paying utility bills and insurance premiums, obtaining bank and other documents, changing locks and negotiating the sale of assets. The Barnes can’t interfere with the receiver, who is authorized to seek help from the sheriff’s offices in Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson counties.

As of Aug. 8, the outstanding balance on six loans totaled $40.8 million for principal, interest, default interest and fees, according to the order. The lender and plaintiff in the case is Rabo AgriFinance, a unit of Netherlands-based Rabobank, which specializes in agriculture financing.

Xem thêm : CFPB sues Berkshire Hathaway affiliate over risky home loans

“Numerous events of default exist under the loans,” the order said. Among them were the failure to pay debt at maturity, failure to pay in accordance with loan terms and failure to comply with certain financial and reporting covenants under loan agreements.

The order stated that Johnny and Lisa Barnes and some of the family’s businesses “executed guaranty agreements to which they unconditionally guaranteed to (Rabo AgriFinance) the prompt and full payment of the line of credit.”

Failure by Barnes to repay loans reflected that proceeds and rents from operations “are either not being collected or not being paid to (Rabo AgriFinance) and are thus being lost, wasted, transferred, concealed or impaired.”

Rabo AgriFinance accelerated and demanded full payment of the loans in September 2023. In a forbearance agreement this past Sept. 26, the Barnes ownership consented to the appointment of a receiver if the loans weren’t paid by Oct. 15.

The deadline passed without payment, entitling Rabo AgriFinance to the appointment of a receiver.

Ultimately, the purpose and objective of the receivership is “to sell and liquidate the collateral so that proceeds can be applied to reduce and/or satisfy amounts” due on the loans, the order said.