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Letter

Dear Mr. Yoon:
We write today – soon after the final sale of the last of bankrupt Blue Harvest Fisheries’ (Blue
Harvest) assets – to seek information on the disposition of funds and the failure to pay over
$100 million in debts owed to more than 1,000 independent contractors, businesses, and other
creditors.
Bregal’s actions with respect to Blue Harvest have left local small businesses and workers
holding the bag after your firm spent years price gouging, mistreating workers, saddling
consumers with junk fees, and stripping assets. The September 2023 bankruptcy filing has been
described as “little more than a heist staged by … Bregal Partners…[which] netted a bundle of
cash, estimated at about $100 million, by selling off its most valuable assets in the two years
prior to declaring bankruptcy.” According to reports, Bregal Partners “is taking off with the
spoils and leaving behind countless small businesses in New Bedford saddled with its debt.”

After its founding in 2015, Blue Harvest rapidly expanded by “acquiring vessels, fishing permits
and processing facilities up and down the East Coast” to capture a significant part of New
England’s fishing industry. As mergers and acquisitions decreased the number of employers in
the fishing industry by over 30% in the past decade, companies like Blue Harvest demanded
longer working hours from fishermen while reducing their income and diverting profits that should have been supporting the local economy. Bregal Partners – the private equity firm that
owned 89.5% of Blue Harvest – pocketed Blue Harvest’s profits instead.

Two years ago, Bregal Partners and Blue Harvest reportedly began selling off Blue Harvest’s
most valuable assets. By November 2022, Blue Harvest had sold its waterfront processing plant
for more than $20 million10 and a fleet of scallop vessels and permits for an estimated net gain of $100 million. After “stripping the company of its assets” and laying off 17 employees, Blue
Harvest quietly and abruptly announced its decision to shut down and filed for Chapter 7
bankruptcy in Delaware on September 8, 2023,12 hundreds of miles away from the New Bedford
community. Blue Harvest’s claims that none of its “property appears to be available to pay
creditors” and that “[c]reditors cannot demand repayment” are inconsistent with the fact that
Bregal Partners netted an estimated $100 million for itself by selling off assets in the two years
prior to declaring bankruptcy.

Rather than using the money to settle the debts owed to the small businesses of New Bedford,
Bregal Partners shielded these assets from Blue Harvest’s bankruptcy filing in Delaware and
pocketed the profits for itself, as it has repeatedly done throughout its “eight-year roll up of the
New Bedford fishing industry.” In addition, independent contractors have revealed that Blue
Harvest failed to provide severance payments or any additional information about its closure.Blue Harvest appeared to contribute part of its remaining funds to hiring a private security team
to guard its assets – fishing gear and machinery – to prevent companies with outstanding debts
from reclaiming their gear or machinery before they auctioned them off.

In November 2023, “the final chapter in the saga,” Blue Harvest’s vessels and permits were
liquidated for $12 million.The sale was finalized to Cassie Canastra of C&P Trawlers and
Charles “Butch” Payne, co-owner of C&P Trawlers, keeping vessel operations in New Bedford.
While we are glad these assets are remaining in the community, the $12 million payment “does
not cover all Blue Harvest’s debts. The banks [, which alone are owed more than $22 million,]
… will recover about $10 million.” Most importantly for Massachusetts, “Blue Harvest also
owed millions to many small businesses on the New Bedford waterfront, none of which will be
made whole.”
After years of putting private equity profits ahead of workers and small businesses, Bregal
Partners – which owned and stripped Blue Harvest of its assets – owes the community an
explanation. Your actions have harmed New England’s fishing industry and left over 1,000
independent contractors, businesses, and other creditors saddled with debt. We therefore ask that
you answer the following questions no later than February 26, 2024:
1. How many workers, businesses, and other contractors did Blue Harvest have employed
when it closed in September 2023?
a. What percent of contractors received notice of the company’s closure?
b. What percent of contractors received less than one week’s notice?
c. What percent of contractors received less than two weeks’ notice?
d. What percent of contractors received less than one month’s notice?
e. What percent of contractors received more than one month’s notice?
2. When Blue Harvest filed for bankruptcy in September 2023, how many small businesses
or other contractors did Blue Harvest owe outstanding payments to?
a. What was the total amount of these outstanding payments?
b. Will Bregal Investment make any additional efforts to pay these debts? If so, how
will it do so?
3. Does Blue Harvest have any remaining assets in the wake of the November 8 auction? If
so, what is the value of these assets, and what will the company do with these assets?
4. Which specific company assets were sold by Blue Harvest – including its waterfront
processing plant and any part of its fleet – from 2015 to the present?
a. Please list each individual asset sale, including specific information on the date of
the sale, what was sold, and how much the company received.
b. For each sale, please provide information on the ultimate disposition of funds
received. What percentage of the funds from these asset sales went to Bregal
Investments or individuals affiliated with Bregal?
5. What other profits – aside from sales of assets – did Blue Harvest earn in each year from
2015-2023?
a. Please provide annual profit information for each year since 2015.
b. What percentage of these profits went to Bregal Investments or individuals
affiliated with Bregal?
c. Who or what entity received the rest of the profits?
6. 11 U.S.C. 548 states that a transfer made within two years before a bankruptcy petition is
filed may be avoided if the debtor (a) made such transfer with intent to hinder, delay, or
defraud potential creditors, or (b) received less than a reasonably equivalent value in
exchange for such transfer or obligation, and met one or more other characteristics.
a. Please detail any transfers of assets between Blue Harvest and Bregal Partners in
the two years prior to Blue Harvest’s Chapter 7 filing.
b. Please explain whether each of the transactions listed in answer to 6(a), as well as
any transactions between Blue Harvest and Bregal Partners in connection with the
sales listed in answer to 4(a) above, fall within 11 U.S.C. 548 or other provisions
relating to fraudulent transfers in bankruptcy, and why.
7. Why did Blue Harvest, a company based in New Bedford, file for bankruptcy in the
District of Delaware?
a. As January 1, 2023, what were the locations of Blue Harvest’s principal place of
business and principal assets (not including cash or cash equivalents)?
b. As of September 8, 2023, what were the locations of Blue Harvest’s principal
place of business and principal assets (not including cash or cash equivalents)?

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