Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative
On September 17, 2025, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”) approved the latest application filed by Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc. (“Alvarez & Marsal”) in its capacity as court-appointed receiver and manager (the “Restructuring Officer”) of the assets, undertakings and properties of Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative (“PBFC”) in connection with PBFC’s ongoing receivership proceedings under the Alberta Cooperatives Act.
The Approved Order can be found here.
Background
The largest of Alberta's 45 feeder cooperatives in terms of credit extended, Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative ("PBFC") is a cooperative organized under the Cooperatives Act of Alberta. It operates as a feeder association under the Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee (FALG) Program and provides its 227 members with a low interest financing alternative to acquire livestock.
In October 2022, PBFC and the Bank of Montreal (“BMO”), as administrative agent for the syndicate of lenders, entered into a credit agreement pursuant to which the syndicate of lenders made available C$335 million of revolving credit facilities to finance loans from PBFC to its members under the FALG Program. In accordance with the program, the Province of Alberta provided a 15% guarantee of the total amount of the facilities to the lenders.
On January 27, 2025, PBFC was ordered by the Inspection and Investigation Section (“IIS”) of Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, which administers the FALG Program, to stop issuing advances to its members for failure to comply with section 6 of the Feeder Associations Guarantee Act. The order followed the results of an inspection between September 7, 2023, and May 15, 2024, in which numerous irregularities in process and instances of non-compliance were identified in PBFC’s operations.
Unable to access a key source of financing critical to many of its members operations and livelihoods, PBFC filed an application for urgent relief, and on February 21, 2025, the Court appointed Alvarez & Marsal as Restructuring Officer of all of PBFC's current and future assets, undertakings and properties pursuant to section 299(1) of the Cooperatives Act, and section 13(2) of the Judicature Act. Through the appointment, Alvarez & Marsal was empowered and authorized to ensure that PBFC took all necessary steps identified by government officials, in consultation with the representatives of the Feeder Association of Alberta, to lift the order and restore normal operations.
Following Alvarez & Marsal’s implementation of a two-phase strategy to achieve all identified operational improvements and restructuring initiatives, the order was rescinded on May 1, 2025, with PBFC’s normal operations resuming on May 26, 2025.
Further information on the ongoing proceedings can be found on Alvarez & Marsal’s website.
Since 1991, Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative has been providing a cost effective alternative to cattle producers wishing to finance the backgrounding and finishing of animals in Southern Alberta.
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