May 28, 2009

Pilgrim's Pride has rejected a bid by a poultry company that wanted to buy Pilgrim's shuttered chicken processing plant in El Dorado, Arkansas.

A federal bankruptcy judge ordered Pilgrim's Pride and the El Dorado Poultry Co. to go into mediation and try to agree on a sale of the facility.

About 1,500 people worked at the El Dorado plant before it began laying off employees prior to closure on May 8.

The El Dorado Chamber of Commerce Chairman Don Wales said details of the offer were not made public. The bankruptcy court has given the companies two weeks to negotiate, he added.