WATERLOO, Iowa — The court-appointed trustee overseeing Agriprocessors’ bankruptcy case said at least a dozen parties are looking at buying whole or a part of the meatpacking company.

The meatpacking company’s plant in Postville was the site of a May 12 immigration raid in which 389 people were arrested. It was one of the largest worksite immigration raids in U.S. history.

Trustee Joe Sarachek wrote in a progress report that the company, which had halted production at one point, has rehired about 200 people in the Postville plant and another 11 at its headquarters in New York.

The company also ran a plant near Gordon, Neb., that closed because of Agriprocessors’ financial problems.

 Plant production resumed on Dec. 3. Since then, the company has sold about $948,000 worth of merchandise and pulled in about $3 million in money owed the company.

Titan Machinery continues expansion

Titan Machinery Inc. announced an agreement to acquire Western Plains Machinery Co., and WP Rentals consisting of nine construction equipment locations in Montana and Wyoming.

Western Plains Machinery was founded in 1940 and has Case Construction dealerships in Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, and Kalispell, Montana and Casper and Gillette, Wyoming. WP Rentals has locations in Billings and Belgrade, Montana and Cheyenne, Wyoming. In its most recent fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, Western Plains Machinery and WP Rental generated revenues of $48.9 million.

Titan Machinery Inc., headquartered in Fargo, N.D., says it owns and operates one of the largest networks of full service agricultural and construction equipment stores in North America. The Titan Machinery network consists of 60 dealerships in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, including one in Lincoln.

Ritchie Bros reports record year

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers said it conducted its final unreserved auctions of 2008 last week and announced a preliminary gross auction proceeds estimate of $3.57 billion for the year, up 12 percent over 2007 gross auction proceeds, and the largest year in the company’s 50-year history.

Nonetheless, CEO Peter Blake said “unusual currency headwinds” during the last quarter of 2008 negatively impacted fourth quarter gross auction proceeds by about $55 million.

The company’s stock was down sharply on Monday.

“We continued to see strong gross auction proceeds growth in Canada, Europe and Australia, where we conduct auctions in non-U.S. currencies,”he said. “However, we report our consolidated results in U.S. dollars, and some of that growth is muted when we convert these non-U.S. dollar amounts from the local currency into U.S. dollars.”

Ritchie Bros. calls itself the world’s largest industrial auctioneer.

— From news wires