A major shareholder in pea and canola protein processor Merit Functional Foods has brought on an unnamed partner in its bid to buy the business out of receivership.

After announcing last month it would submit a bid for the practically-new Merit assets, Vancouver-based plant protein firm Burcon NutraScience says it’s now “participating in a bid” for Merit in co-operation with “an industry plant protein company.”

Having just opened for business in early 2021, with major shareholders also including U.S. agrifood firm Bunge and former executives of Hemp Oil Canada, Merit was placed into receivership on March 1st.

Court-appointed receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers, in its first report filed March 31st with Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg, said it had set a deadline of last Friday for formal bids on the Merit assets, and expects to determine the accepted offer by this Friday.