The Hansen-Mueller Co. asset sale continued as planned with an auction on Dec. 16 after attorneys for the company told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nebraska on Dec. 15 that pending objections in the case by farmers in Texas and Nebraska have been or are being resolved.
Hansen-Mueller attorney Brian Koenig told the court during a brief hearing on the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that both sides were close to agreeing to procedures in response to the Texas producers’ objection. The court agreed to delay further hearing on their objection until the already-scheduled Dec. 22 sale hearing.
“I think we are really close to reaching an agreement on the procedures and process to employ and believe that we will reach a consensual agreement that needs a little bit of additional time to do so,” Koenig told the court.
“Additionally, with the auction scheduled for tomorrow (Dec. 16), hopefully that could yield a result that could eliminate maybe the involvement of some of the parties and provide us greater guidance and direction as to maybe what we’re dealing with.”
One week earlier, a group of 11 Texas farmers filed an emergency motion to prevent the sale by auction on Dec. 16, arguing that Hansen-Mueller owes them about $1.4 million for grain deliveries made between June and October of 2025. The farmers invoked Section 557 of the bankruptcy code that provides special expedited procedures specifically for grain-producer cases.
The farmers argued Hansen-Mueller is using their grain proceeds as operating cash without the farmers’ consent or adequate protection. The producers said they were concerned that any proceeds from their grain were at “imminent risk of being swept” by the pre-petition secured lender BMO Bank unless procedures are implemented to protect farmers.
In addition, Koenig told the court the company has excluded from the asset sales the corn-delivery contracts of Culbertson, NE, farmer Brian Schafer, who also filed an objection with the court.
Schafer had asked the court to find that the contracts he has with the company to deliver about 1 million bushels of corn by the end of next year are not executory contracts and to declare them canceled or voided.
Hansen-Mueller still owes Schafer about $492,000 for the delivery of more than 102,000 bushels of corn before the company’s license was suspended, according to the motion. He was not among the 38 Nebraska farmers who were paid about $2.1 million for deliveries to Hansen-Mueller. — Todd Neeley, DTN environmental editor
