Carpere Deal Collapses
It is something which has the early coffee row and City Hall watchers alike asking and that is is the Carpere Canada deal going the way of Canadian Protein Innovation (CPI)?
In a news release the City has said Carpere has failed to finalize the deal to purchase approximately 780 acres of land in the Southeast Industrial Park and for the time being walking away.
“The City of Moose Jaw has been notified by Carpere Canada that as a result of extensive due diligence, the company will not be removing conditions and proceeding with the purchase of lands within Moose Jaw’s Southeast Industrial Park at this time. In July of 2019 Carpere and the City signed a Purchase Agreement for 780 acres of land subject to mutual conditions,” the news release stated.
Under the terms of the agreement Carpere was not only purchasing the 780 acres of land for $7.8 million but also the exclusive right to market the industrial park. Carpere had stated on their web-site they planned to attract billions of dollars of agri-food processing, technology firms as well as other related firms and a large residential water garden development.
A concept drawing of Carpere’s proposed residential water garden development - source Carpere Canada’s web-site
When the deal was announced Mayor Fraser Tolmie called it the largest land deal in the history of the City.
In late October Carpere Canada had requested a four month extension to complete finalize the deal and make payment.
“The City and Carpere have each made significant efforts to conclude the agreement by the deadline but were unable to finalize the purchase of land for the Industrial Park,” Mayor Fraser Tolmie said in a statement. “However, both organizations remain committed to ongoing discussions.”
As part of the deal the City had to assist Carpere in marketing the property and during Budget 2020 deliberations set aside $10,000 for likely the Mayor and a City staffer to go to China.
In the case of CPI a German agri-food processor had planned to build a $100 million pea protein processing plant in the new Southeast Industrial Park however the deal fell through and expired.
It needs to be noted Carpere Canada and CPI are NOT related firms and the ownership and boards were different.
In the CPI case the main proponent and director of CPI, Michael Schoenert, had serious legal problems – both criminal and civil – in Germany related to his previous employer Emsland-Starke.
In a MJ Independent invesgtigative report the Province admitted they knew about the legal allegations against Schoenert as early as 2016 after CPI had been vetted and recommeded to the City.