Here's another one from the Telegram and Gazette:
Bank won't close Omni
New owner is seeking buyer
Thursday, March 12, 1998
By Chris Pope
Telegram & Gazette Staff
SECTION:business
New owner is seeking buyer
MILLBURY-- Omni Multimedia Group Inc. will continue running and its workers will keep their jobs while Coast Business Credit, the California company now in charge of Omni, finds a buyer.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ"Coast Business Credit has no intention whatsoever of closing Omni and putting 250 people out of work," Coast Vice President Ralph Stone said yesterday. "We will stand behind Omni and continue to support it."
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿStone made his statement a day after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge ruled that Coast could foreclose on its $4.2 million loan to Omni. The ruling came after a two-hour hearing during which Judge James F. Queenan found that the Millbury duplicator of CD ROMs and music CDs had failed to staunch its losses or find a purchaser.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿOmni and its four subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, reporting assets of $7 million and liabilities of about $36.6 million. The company lost $15.6 million in its last fiscal year.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿStone said Omni chief executive Paul F. Johnson and Robert E. Lee, the company's chief financial officer, relinquished their jobs after the court's ruling. Stone said all other employees, including several Johnson family members and relatives, remain in place.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿStone said he was optimistic that a buyer for Omni could be found soon. He said Coast officials have talked with several potential purchasers as well as a shareholders group that has been pushing for a sale of the company and its continued operation under new management. If all goes well, Stone said, Coast could have a letter of intent to purchase from one Omni suitor in hand as early as today. A final agreement could come as early as next
week, he said. But Stone said Omni would remain open even if that deal falls through.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ"We tend not to liquidate companies," Stone said. "We intend to keep them up and running until we find a suitor."
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿTo ensure the company's continued operation, Stone said, Coast made a rent payment Monday to AAA Mass Turnpike Warehouse, Omni's landlord. He said Coast is also working with various lessors from whom Omni leased manufacturing equipment.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿStone denied allegations made in court Monday that over the last month Coast officials had worked to drive away Omni's customers and scotched the efforts of Omni's managers to find a buyer for the company.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ"That's absurd. It makes no sense," Stone said. "We would have loved to have had another buyer come in, pay us what we are owed and take us out."
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿStone said he was confident that Omni remains a viable company that can be returned to profitability by new ownership.
ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ ÿ"There's no question about that," said Stone. Omni "needs more cash. There's no question, with an influx of cash, equity, whatever, it will be successful."
c 1998 Worcester Telegram & Gazette |
