"No layoffs" as HIG wins Shapes deal approval

HIG Capital, Miami, says it will acquire Shapes/Arch Holdings LLC, Pennsauken on Aug. 4, now that U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Gloria Burns in Camden has approved the deal.
  Shapes employs 1,000 at metal and vinyl fabricating plants in Delair and Bensalem, which reported sales of $270 million last year. Shapes will be combined with HIG's Signature Aluminum unit.
   "This is a tremedous fit," said Shapes CEO Stephen J. Grabell. "There's very little overlap in customers. We have some complementary skill sets."  He added, "We're all pretty lean in our organizations. There's an expectation there will be no layoffs."
  Still, "the market remains very challenging," due to the downturns in construction and vehicle production, Shapes' main customers, Grabell added. 
  HIG agreed to invest $91 million, including $5 million for unsecured creditors, $26 million in bankruptcy financing, and $60 million to repay bank debt to CIT Group and other lenders, said  J. Scott Victor, senior managing director and cohead of the Special Situations Group at National City Investment Banking, West Conshohocken, which oversaw the sale. 
  Equity held by the founding Kendall family and other investors was wiped out by the company's March bankruptcy filing. HIG beat an initial offer by Versa Capital Management Inc. of Philadelphia..
  As part of the plan to emerge from bankruptcy, Teamsters Local 837 and the United Independent Union, which represent Shapes workers, agreed that Shapes will end future contributions to traditional union defined-benefit plans. Instead, the company will fund a 401-k retirement plan.    
  HIG has been buying aluminum extruders around the country. In 2005 HIG bought Signature Aluminum, Greenville, Pa. In 2006 it added Temroc Metals Inc., Hamel, Minn., and Atlantic Aluminum LLC, Lumber Bridge, N. Car.
  Grabell will report to Signature ceo Frank A. Papa.