Pipe maker to close plant.Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard A year after two large investors took control of Eugene-based PW Eagle and forced the sale of the company, its Glenwood plant is being closed. The company, which makes plastic pipe, was bought by a New Jersey competitor, J-M J-M Jelinski-Moranda (reliability model) Manufacturing, this year and now operates under the name JM Eagle. This week, it told employees that its Glenwood plant will close, laying off 56 people beginning in September. No information was available Thursday about the future of the former PW Eagle headquarters near Valley River Center Valley River Center is a shopping mall located in Eugene, Oregon. As the largest shopping center south of Portland and north of San Francisco, this mall comprises over 130 local and national stores and restaurants. , which employs about 50 people. Jack Cobb, JM Eagle's local site manager, confirmed on Thursday the planned plant closure and directed all other questions to J-M Manufacturing's headquarters in Livingston, N.J., which already had closed for the day. A state official said the company had filed a federally required notice of the layoffs on July 3. JM Eagle indicated that 47 hourly employees and nine salaried employees at the plant on Nugget Nugget A 15 year Gold FHLMC (Freddie Mac) bond; similar to a Dwarf. Way would lose their jobs, said Karen Humelbaugh, education and work force programs manager with the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development. Employees said they were told that the local plant was one of four slated for closure. The announcement caps two turbulent years for the company. The company attracted the attention of two hedge funds hedge fund, in finance, a highly speculative, largely unregulated investment device. Originating in the 1950s, the funds "hedge" by offsetting "short" positions (borrowing a security and then selling it at a higher price before repaying the lender) against "long" after its stock price shot up from $10 a share to $24 a share in 2005. Hedge funds are secretive se·cre·tive adj. Having or marked by an inclination to secrecy; not open, forthright, or frank. See Synonyms at silent. se , largely unregulated Adj. 1. unregulated - not regulated; not subject to rule or discipline; "unregulated off-shore fishing" regulated - controlled or governed according to rule or principle or law; "well regulated industries"; "houses with regulated temperature" 2. investment partnerships that serve wealthy individuals and other large investors, including pension funds. By spring 2006, the two hedge funds - Pirate Capital and Caxton Associates Caxton Associates, L.L.C., is a New York-based trading and investment firm formed as the successor to Caxton Corporation, which was founded in 1983 by Mr. Bruce Kovner. Caxton Associates' primary business is to manage client and proprietary capital through global macro hedge fund - had acquired enough PW Eagle stock to control the company. PW Eagle's board of directors was expanded and seats were given to the hedge funds' representatives after they threatened the company with a potentially nasty fight for votes at PW Eagle's annual shareholders meeting. At the first meeting of the board, a committee was formed to look at ways to get the most value from the company for shareholders. PW Eagle's then-chief executive, Jerry Dukes, said employees shouldn't worry about their jobs, however. "If you have a plant that's performing well and making money, it's not going to go away." About six months later, in January 2007, the company announced that it was being purchased by J-M Manufacturing. The sale closed on June 22, and PW Eagle, one of two publicly traded companies publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. with headquarters in Eugene, became part of a private company. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion