The owners of East Coast Brokers & Packers in Plant City, FL, have filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in a Florida court and have indicated in a statement to the press that they will continue operating.

According to the Tampa Bay Tribune, Evelyn and Batista Madonia Sr. are well-known in the Plant City area and also own the Red Rose Inn & Suites, which has been closed since last May. The same article states that the biggest creditor in the bankruptcy is Met Life Agricultural Investments, which is owed $46 million.

Additionally, the tomato grower-shipper was on the losing end of a December ruling by the 13th Circuit Court in Tampa, which found that it owed creditor Triangle Chemical Co. $3.5 million after defaulting on a loan a year ago.

The owners did issue a statement to local reporters claiming that they would replant and rebuild their firm.

The Madonias have been trying to sell some of their assets since prior to the bankruptcy filing. A Feb. 11 online posting on the site of a real estate broker listed the company's assets and said the firm, Murray Wise Capital LLC, had been retained "to explore strategic options, including the possible sale of certain farmland and other assets and a recapitalization/restructuring of its existing operations."

The online statement blamed "two years of freezes on its Florida farms in 2010 and 2011, a hurricane on its Virginia farms in 2011 and an influx of cheap tomato imports from Mexico in recent years" as the reasons it opted "to not grow and pack tomatoes in late 2012 and into 2013."

Ken Nofziger, president of Murray Wise Capital, said in the online statement that the firm's assets include more than 10,000 acres in Florida and Virginia.

"We're entertaining offers on any and all of the assets, which include operating farms, six packinghouses and labor housing for more than 1,300 employees," he said. "We are also looking for partners for the Madonia family to continue operating the business.

"Taken as a whole, this is a vertically integrated operation that, with the new pricing agreement in place, presents an interesting opportunity to the right investor," he said speaking of the new Tomato Suspension Agreement with Mexico.

The posting went on to say that the Florida land includes 7,100 acres, of which approximately 4,230 are farmable in plots ranging from approximately 439 acres to 2,285 acres.

Other Florida assets include a 312,000-square-foot packing facility, greenhouses and several labor camps.

The Virginia assets include 12 operating farms with approximately 2,950 total acres.

"There are several other packing facilities in Virginia, as well as Florida and West Virginia," said Mr. Nofziger. "The owners will be seeking offers and proposals for any combination of these assets."

Well-known PACA attorney Larry Meuers of Meuers Law Firm PL, Naples, FL, told The Produce News via email that he had reviewed the top 20 creditors of the firm, and the majority of the debts were for business operations such as for fertilizer, boxes and similar debts. Those type of debts are not covered by the PACA Trust, he said.

Not all of the firm's debts have been revealed yet so there still may be some produce debts, but they will pale in comparison to the $50 million or more owed to other creditors.

Calls to both the East Coast Brokers & Packers office in Plant City and the Murray Wise office in Illinois were not answered.