SILER CITY - An Atlanta company made an offer to buy an 800-employee chicken processing plant scheduled to close by June, town leaders said Tuesday.

Town Manager Joel Brower said representatives from IIG Management were in Siler City last weekend and had made an offer to buy the operation from Pilgrim's Pride. He said IIG wanted to keep the plant's workers and management.

Efforts to reach IIG were unsuccessful Tuesday.

According to its Web site, Institutional Investors Group is a private equity management company that operates four funds. One is an international food export fund with a holding company that plans to build refrigerated containers, get food in the United States and ship it to the Middle East.

In a statement sent by e-mail, Pilgrim's Pride said that a number of companies had expressed interest in the plant but that its plans had not changed. "To date, none of these interested firms has presented us with a formal offer under terms, conditions and in an amount that would cause us to alter the planned closing," wrote Ray Atkinson, director of corporate communications for the chicken producer.

The Pilgrim's Pride operation in Siler City employs 836, equal to 10 percent of the town population.

Pilgrim's Pride has said it is not canceling contracts with the farmers who raise birds for the Siler City plant and will shift some of the chickens grown for its Sanford plant to farmers that were growing for Siler City. But farmers will have more downtime between flocks, which will likely mean fewer birds per year and less income.

The company cited rising feed costs and oversupply of meat as factors that contributed to the decision to close the plant.

Brower, the town manager, said the town would be sad to see Pilgrim's Pride go. He did not have details of the offer, he said.

Former Chatham County Commissioner Tommy Emerson, who said he has been volunteering as a liaison between Siler City and potential buyers, said the offer would "be a win-win for all parties." He said that if the sale goes through, the buyer would upgrade the facility and perhaps increase production.

"These people are very serious," Emerson said. "These birds will be for the export market."

Officials were excited about the prospect of new ownership. "We're also pleased that Pilgrim's Pride is willing to talk about selling it," Brower said.