The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has appointed a receiver for Sam Kane Beef Processors, KRIS 6 News reported this week after obtaining court documents. Located in Corpus Christi, Texas, the plant owes millions to customers, creditors and the city of Corpus Christi. It also owes $400,000 in back taxes.

Richard Schmidt, the court-ordered receiver and a former bankruptcy judge, told KRIS 6 that, unlike a bankruptcy, a receivership will allow the company to continue operations but also ready the company for a suitable buyer or investor.

“This is way too important to the community, – not just money owed the city but the fact that we’re the 10th largest slaughterhouse in the country,” Schmidt told KRIS 6. “We supply meat across the country.”

​Schmidt said that despite the company’s financial situation, it still employs 750 people and does “a half-billion a year in sales on a $25 million payroll and annually processes 267,000 heads of cattle from 30 feed lots around Texas.”

Schmidt emphasized the next 3 months will be crucial for the company as it maps out the future.