01.01.09
Location: CHATTANOOGA, GA
Sales: $175 Million
Description: Key Personnel
Stan Brant, president and CEO, Martin de Vries, president and chief financial officer
Plants
Ringgold, GA
Process
Needlepunch
Major Markets
Geosynthetics, flooring, furniture and bedding, agriculture, laminates, vinyl substrates, sorbents
Under new ownership this year is Propex Holdings (formerly Propex Inc.), a Chattanooga, TN-based maker of needlepunched nonwovens for a variety of industries. After voluntarily filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2008, Propex was purchased by a fund managed by Wayzata Investment Partners, a Minneapolis, MN private equity firm in April 2009.
Under the name Propex Holdings, the company continues to aggressively pursue business opportunities in existing markets—which include geosynthetics, flooring, furniture and bedding, automotives, agriculture, laminates, vinyl substrates and sorbents. In connection with the sale, Propex has permanently shed more than $380 million of debt and long-term liabilities.
Stan Brant is leading the company as president and chief executive. He most recently served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer for Propex., responsible for directing all of the company’s geosynthetic, concrete, furnishing and industrial fabrics and fiber manufacturing activities. He replaced Wood McGee who served as president and CEO for one year with the chief objective of helping the company emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Propex was formed in December 2004 when a group of investors led by Houston-based The Sterling Group, L.P., San Francisco- based Genstar Capital, L.P. and Houston-based Laminar Direct Capital, L.P., purchased BP Amoco’s Fabric and Fibers unit. It makes woven and nonwoven materials for the geotextiles, furniture, carpet backing and automotives markets.
The company became significantly larger in January 2006 when it purchased fellow needlepunch manufacturer SI Corporation, including its SI Concrete Systems Corporation and SI Geosolutions Corporation divisions. At the time, the company said the purchase was in sync with its intention to create a highly diversified and balanced company, which will become the best of the best.
Not long afterwards, Propex decided to consolidate its operations, closing the Seneca, SC plant as part of a restructuring and consolidation plan involving its U.S. needlepunch nonwovens manufacturing activities. Seneca manufacturing assets were relocated to Propex’s facility in Ringgold, GA, which was formerly owned by SI Corporation.
Sales: $175 Million
Description: Key Personnel
Stan Brant, president and CEO, Martin de Vries, president and chief financial officer
Plants
Ringgold, GA
Process
Needlepunch
Major Markets
Geosynthetics, flooring, furniture and bedding, agriculture, laminates, vinyl substrates, sorbents
Under new ownership this year is Propex Holdings (formerly Propex Inc.), a Chattanooga, TN-based maker of needlepunched nonwovens for a variety of industries. After voluntarily filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2008, Propex was purchased by a fund managed by Wayzata Investment Partners, a Minneapolis, MN private equity firm in April 2009.
Under the name Propex Holdings, the company continues to aggressively pursue business opportunities in existing markets—which include geosynthetics, flooring, furniture and bedding, automotives, agriculture, laminates, vinyl substrates and sorbents. In connection with the sale, Propex has permanently shed more than $380 million of debt and long-term liabilities.
Stan Brant is leading the company as president and chief executive. He most recently served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer for Propex., responsible for directing all of the company’s geosynthetic, concrete, furnishing and industrial fabrics and fiber manufacturing activities. He replaced Wood McGee who served as president and CEO for one year with the chief objective of helping the company emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Propex was formed in December 2004 when a group of investors led by Houston-based The Sterling Group, L.P., San Francisco- based Genstar Capital, L.P. and Houston-based Laminar Direct Capital, L.P., purchased BP Amoco’s Fabric and Fibers unit. It makes woven and nonwoven materials for the geotextiles, furniture, carpet backing and automotives markets.
The company became significantly larger in January 2006 when it purchased fellow needlepunch manufacturer SI Corporation, including its SI Concrete Systems Corporation and SI Geosolutions Corporation divisions. At the time, the company said the purchase was in sync with its intention to create a highly diversified and balanced company, which will become the best of the best.
Not long afterwards, Propex decided to consolidate its operations, closing the Seneca, SC plant as part of a restructuring and consolidation plan involving its U.S. needlepunch nonwovens manufacturing activities. Seneca manufacturing assets were relocated to Propex’s facility in Ringgold, GA, which was formerly owned by SI Corporation.