California company buys National Envelope Corp.
National Envelope Corp. employees at a manufacturing facility in Elk Grove Village have not heard of any changes as a result of the purchase of their company.
"It's business as usual. That's how we're treating it until we hear otherwise," said JuliAnn Bock, regional human resources manager in Elk Grove Village. She said Wednesday that there are 185 people working at the local factory.
Los Angeles-based Gores Group, a private equity firm, announced Wednesday that it acquired National Envelope Corp. through auction in bankruptcy court. National Envelope, the largest closely held envelope maker in the U.S., entered into bankruptcy in June. It has 14 manufacturing facilities, two distribution centers and more than 3,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada.
"We're excited about the acquisition," said Gores Group spokesman Terry Fahn. He said he is not aware of the long-term plans for the Elk Grove Village facility or the company as a whole.
At the end of August, National Envelope won court permission to sell virtually all its assets for about $208 million to an affiliate of the Gores Group.
Gores was the lead bidder at that time, with a beginning offer of $134.5 million. Also bidding were affiliates of Conveo Inc., National Envelope's largest competitor, based in Stamford, Conn. Gores won an offer of about $149.9 million in cash, the assumption of about $20 million in debt the company owes to International Paper Co. and a $47.7 million note.
National Envelope has said the recession and increased use of e-mail cut sales, leading to more than three years of losses.
"NEC is the market leader in the merchant/wholesale channel, with meaningful growth opportunities in the attractive consumer market," Jordan W. Katz, managing director of the Gores Group, said in a release Wednesday.
The company, with 21 percent of the $3.7 billion North American envelope market in 2008, produces about 37 billion envelopes a year. National Envelope, based in Frisco, Texas, was founded in 1952 and has been operating in Elk Grove for more than 30 years.