Louisville, Ky.-based Genlyte Group Inc. bought highway safety equipment maker Carsonite International Corp. from bankrupt Omega Polymer Technologies Inc. for $4.3 million.
Carsonite, an Early Branch, S.C.-based pultruder, employed about 80 at the time of Omega's bankruptcy filing.
Genlyte bought Carsonite via auction Sept. 21. The deal closed Sept. 26, said Dennis Gerrard, interim chief executive officer of Omega. Gerrard is overseeing the liquidation.
Carsonite has two plants in South Carolina. The Early Branch facility is a 53,000-square-foot extrusion and fabrication site. The second plant, in Varnville, is 35,000 square feet and houses 11 pultrusion lines, according to Carsonite's Web site.
Genlyte also owns Shakespeare Composite Structures in Newberry, S.C., a maker of fiberglass-reinforced composite utility poles.
Aurora, Ohio-based Omega filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August in Erie, Pa., after struggling with high material costs and overseas competitive price pressures.
A Beachwood, Ohio-based private equity firm, Resilience Capital Partners LLC, has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Omega's pultrusion assets in Aurora for $1.5 million, plus the value of the company's working capital at the time of closing.
An auction is scheduled Oct. 13 at bankruptcy court in Erie where other interested buyers will have the opportunity to outbid Resilience Capital Partners.
Steven Rosen, Resilience's managing partner, said in an earlier interview that the U.S. slowdown in building and construction is an opportunity for Omega to position itself to capitalize on the industry's eventual resurgence.
``We hope to grow it, both organically, and through acquisition,'' he said Sept. 22.
In August, Omega sold its Corry, Pa.-based Viking Plastics Inc. injection molding division for $4.6 million.