My blog is dedicated to folding trailers (AKA PopUps or PUP’s). Hopefully non-PUP owners will find some of the posts of interest/value.
I’ll cover equipment, modifications, maintenance, camping stories, and of course SPUT’s (Stupid Pop Up Tricks). Please forgive my rants & raves and posts on my camping buddy – my granddaughter.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So I try and keep the post short but augment them with pictures from my SmugMug gallery.
Enjoy.
He Ruide
I’ll cover equipment, modifications, maintenance, camping stories, and of course SPUT’s (Stupid Pop Up Tricks). Please forgive my rants & raves and posts on my camping buddy – my granddaughter.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So I try and keep the post short but augment them with pictures from my SmugMug gallery.
Enjoy.
He Ruide
Update on the sale of Fleetwood’s Folding Trailers Division
Created 5/18/08
* The aggregate purchase price for the real estate and the stock combined was $10.71 million. This sale is expected to result in a loss to Fleetwood of approximately $7.6 million after transaction costs.
* The Fleetwood will use $3,664,428 of the proceeds of the sale to partially prepay the outstanding principal balance of loans
* FTCA assumed substantially all of the operating assets and liabilities of Folding Trailers, including ongoing warranty obligations but excluding pending litigation.
* Warranty reserves including for Roof Warranty Claims ($1,922,639) have been established
Hopefully, the last two items above will address the most of the concerns that current owners have regarding warranty issues.
Now, some folks have wondered why Fleetwood would sell the folding trailer business when it was going fairly well. Sales have been declining but more importantly Fleetwood is in dire need of cash. They have the anticipated retirement of $100 million aggregate principal debentures, which holders may put to the Company on December 15, 2008. So in addition to the folding trailer business sale they announced the sale of their corporate campus in Riverside, California, for a price of $23.5 million net of expenses. They also closed two California- based supply manufacturing facilities and consolidated the remaining Supply Group businesses into its operating units. One facility was sold generating almost $10 million in proceeds, while the other is being offered for sale.
Another issue was “What will the trailers be called?” The SEC filling states that FTCA does not own the name “Fleetwood” and that within thirty (30) days after closing they need to change of the company to a name that does not include “Fleetwood.” However, I heard from a source that they will be allowed to use the name “Fleetwood” on the trailers for 12 months. Also, there was no mention of the use of the “Coleman” name in the SEC filing so I’ll assume that is not an option.
However, the long term future of Folding Trailer division is less clear. Blackstreet Capital is a “Bethesda, MD-based private equity fund which focuses on control buyouts of companies that are either underperforming, in out-of-favor industries or are undergoing some form of transition. Blackstreet seeks investments in a range of industries, including manufacturing/distribution, restaurants, specialty retail, business services and health care.
They acquire companies located Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern and Midwestern United States and the average holding period for an acquisition is of 3-5 years. The bottom line is they make money by acquiring, improving financial performance and selling companies. I expect their will be cost reduction including layoffs, a reduction in the number of different trailers and maybe changes in price.
Since Blackstreet is not interested in being a long term owner, I suspect that within the next five years we should expect that the company previously known as Fleetwood Folding Trailer, Inc. to be sold to some other buyer. Will it be a future buyer that is already in the RV business or some one wanting to get into the business? Only time will tell.
Ruide
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