DEAL MAY GET GLENSHAW GLASS WORKING AGAIN
Published: Wednesday, August 17, 2005
By Michael Yeomans
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Susannah Ostrowski had all but given up hope that her husband, Dennis, would get the opportunity to go back to work at Glenshaw Glass Co., where he followed his father's footsteps 18 years ago.
But with the signing of a deal late Monday evening for Pittsburgh businessman William Kelman to acquire the mothballed Shaler plant out of bankruptcy for about $4 million, that opportunity could become a reality by year's end.
Kelman, who earlier this year acquired L.E. Smith Glass Co. in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, was still negotiating with the Glenshaw plant’s union leadership Tuesday to establish ground rules for negotiating a new contract to re-start operations. He could not be reached for comment.
The agreement to buy the 109-year-old plant has been approved by a committee of unsecured creditors and by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. PNC had forced Glenshaw into a state court-appointed receivership last November. The deal must still be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
The sale will not be complete until potential other bidders are given the opportunity to come forward with a higher offer.
Margaret Good, president of Meridian
Group, the management firm installed in November after PNC ousted John Ghaznavi as owner after he defaulted on $11 million in loans, said several groups have looked the plant over since she took control.
But no firm offers surfaced until Kelman approached her out of the blue last week.
“(Kelman) was able to react exceptionally quickly,” Good said.
Good said she never gave up hope that the plant could be sold to someone who would re-start it, even as she hired an auctioneer and a real estate company to dispose of its equipment and land this fall.
Good said PNC and other creditors showed extreme patience in allowing her to go to the expense of carefully draining the plant’s furnaces of molten glass and mothball them for future use.
“This has been a great example of everyone working together -- the bank, the union and the creditors,” she said. “I never wanted to give up hope, and felt that if we just keep working, something good would happen, and it has.”
But as welcome as Kelman’s bid is, Good said she would be happier to see higher bids follow.
Good said getting one furnace up and running capable of producing $15 million to $20 million in revenue would require $3 million to $5 million in working capital. It’s still unclear how many of Glenshaw’s former 350 employees will be needed to re-start the plant. Several have retired and some have found other work, as Dennis Ostrowski did.
But he would leave his job at Wal-Mart in a second to go back to the plant, his wife said.
“At this point it would be a blessing to us, as we are not making it and Denny is having a very hard time with all the walking at Wal-Mart,” she said.
Thank you for visiting The Meridian Group - Come back again.