By Linda Lipp, Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
lindal@fwbusiness.com
Fleetwood Enterprises has received a $28.9-million bid for certain assets of its manufactured-housing business, but the offer does not include the California company's plant in Garrett.
Cavco Industries and investment partner Third Avenue Trust Value Fund made the offer, which would be subject to a bankruptcy court auction and approval.
Fleetwood has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since March 10. A motion establishing the sales and bidding procedures for the manufactured housing business was expected to be heard July 7, the company said in a statement June 30.
The bankruptcy auction could draw other bidders who might be interested in the Garrett plant and other assets not included in Cavco's offer, Fleetwood spokeswoman Sydney Rosencranz said July 1.
A group of local investors has submitted a bid to buy the Garrett plant. Garrett businessman Walt Fuller, his partner, Jerome Henry Jr., and the plant's manager, Wally Comer, could become the factory's owners in August if no one outbids them.
The Fleetwood assets proposed for purchase include: seven manufactured-housing plants, one office building, all related equipment, accounts receivable, inventory, trademarks and trade names, intellectual property and specified contracts and leases.
The manufactured-housing plants are located in: Nampa, Idaho.; Woodburn, Ore.; Riverside, Calif.; Waco, Texas; Lafayette, Tenn.; Douglas, Ga.; and Rocky Mount, Va. The proposed purchase does not include the company's operating plants in Garrett, Alma, Ga., or Elizabethtown, Pa.
The facilities included in the proposed purchase currently employ more than 700 people.
In late June, Fleetwood received the court's approval for the sale of its motor-home assets, including two manufacturing plants, two service plants and a supply unit in Decatur, to American Industrial Partners for $53 million. The buyer plans to continue to make motor homes under the Fleetwood name.
Fleetwood sold the assets of its Trendsetter military housing business for $4.5 million May 29 to CMH Manufacturing. Trendsetter manufactures modular barracks for the U.S. military in two adjacent facilities located in Belton, Texas, south of Waco. CMH was expected to make conditional job offers to most of the unit's employees.
In both cases, the buyers of the Fleetwood businesses were the only bidders.
Cavco, headquartered in Phoenix, produces manufactured housing, park model homes and vacation cabins. Third Avenue Management, the investment adviser to Third Avenue Value Fund, is a New York-based firm with expertise in value and distressed investing.