London, Ont. cricket plant ordered into receivership amid $41M debt obligation

Months after it announced layoffs impacting two-thirds of its workforce, Aspire Food Group, the London-based insect agriculture firm specializing in farming crickets for use as protein, has been ordered into receivership by an Ontario court.

Last week, a Superior Court of Ontario justice ordered that FTI Consulting be appointed receiver of Aspire and its related entities, and all "assets, undertakings, and properties" acquired or used by the firm at its Innovation Drive facility, along with its proceeds.

The order followed an application filed by Farm Credit Canada (FCC) in February to appoint FTI Consulting as receiver and manager, saying Aspire owed it nearly $41.5 million under an amended credit agreement reached the previous year.

Aspire opened the plant in 2022 with the goal of producing up to 13 million kilograms of the insect annually for use as an alternative consumable protein source, it's co-founder told CBC News at the time. A vast majority of the plant's production was for the pet-food industry.

The plant was opened with the help of roughly $25 million in federal funding through NGen under Ottawa's Innovation Supercluster Initiative, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

In November, Aspire announced it would lay off 100 of its 150 workers at the plant to renovate its production system, with plans to rehire workers this summer.

In its application, FCC says Aspire built the London facility based on "proprietary cricket growth and harvesting methodology" developed in a research and development facility in Austin, Texas.

Since opening in London, the company had been unsuccessful in replicating the methodology, and had failed in commercializing and scaling its operations, FCC's application says.

"As a result of the fundamental operational issues plaguing the Facility, the Aspire Group has not been able to produce positive cash flow/earnings and production has come to a complete halt in order for the Aspire Group to focus on research and development."

It adds FTI was brought on as a consultant to monitor Aspire's monthly statements and operating metrics. Aspire was also required by FCC to sustain a minimum cash balance of $1 million.

"Notwithstanding these amendments, the Aspire Group has failed to recommence production, and its working capital is rapidly depleting," FCC's application reads, adding Aspire was in default of the agreement after failing to maintain the required cash balance.

CBC News has reached out to Aspire CEO David Rosenberg, co-founder Mohammed Ashour, and legal counsel for Farm Credit Canada and FTI Consulting for comment. This story will be updated when they respond.

A factum filed by FCC in late February highlights some causes of Aspire's ongoing financial difficulties.

Among them, the drying up of government grants and cost reimbursement programs it had previously relied on, and "current economic uncertainty and market volatility" from threatened U.S. tariffs on goods imported from Canada.

In a supplementary factum filed on May 1, FCC said that it had given Aspire many opportunities to resolve its issues, including opportunities to secure emergency liquidity to meet payroll obligations, and additional time to finalize repayment.

"Despite these accommodations, the Aspire Group has not been successful in formalizing any repayment transaction that will see the indebtedness repaid in the short or long-term," the document says.

"At this juncture, it has become clear to FCC that the possibility of the Aspire Borrowers finalizing a repayment transaction in the near term and on terms satisfactory to FCC is negligible."

Since opening, the London plant has been dogged by bizarre conspiracy theories that it's part of a shadowy government plot to force people to eat insects.

In 2022, Aspire signed a memorandum of understanding with a Korea-based food distribution company to identify markets in Asia and Europe for its product.

This story will be updated.