Aberdeen, NC, Sept. 18--A newly formed company has acquired Gulistan Carpets in Aberdeen. The change could allow the company create more jobs in the future, according to the Pilot.com.
Hampton Capital Partners has been formed as an equity firm to help finance expansion and new equipment for Gulistan.
The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed beyond the $4.89 million that was paid to buy the property. Aberdeen-based Gulistan will continue to operate with the same workforce and keep its name and logo as before, under the same management.
“There will be no layoffs of the 690 employees, and current employees will have no reduction in their compensation or benefits,” said Tom Irwin, longtime owner-manager, who is executive vice president and chief operations officer.
The change will be an investment and equity ownership under the newly named corporation that includes three majority partners from Ronile, Inc., a Virginia-based supplier of dyed yarns to Gulistan and other manufactures in the floorcovering industry. Ronile also owns Bacova Guild Ltd., a leading supplier of rugs, mats and bath products.
Irwin and Charles Kennedy, president of Gulistan, are minority partners in the new corporation and will serve on the umbrella company’s Board of Directors. Kennedy and Irwin will continue in their present capacity. They were part of the original four-member team that purchased what was then JPS Carpets in 1995. The two other owners have since retired.
JPS Carpets was a transition from the parent company, J.P. Stevens, which operated the plant off N.C. 5 and its two other facilities in North Carolina after 1963. The company was broken up as a corporate entity in 1988, when it became JPS Carpets.
In 1995, it went through a new incarnation named Gulistan, which continues to make a famous upscale residential brand (the word means Garden of Roses). The plant in Aberdeen had been a textile and carpet-making facility since the 1950s.
“We are thrilled about the investment Hampton is making in our business and the new, more favorable financing that Fleet Financial Corp. has extended to Gulistan,” Kennedy said.
The change will not be apparent to the outsider, since the company will keep the same name, workforce and present operations.
The main change will be the investment of money in the company by Ronile and the family that owns Bacova Guild, the Essigs. Gulistan was already doing business with the Essigs.
Fleet Financial Corp. is providing a new credit, consisting of a term loan, a revolving line and a capital expenditure line as part of the Essig family investment.
Irwin said he and Kennedy had talked with other carpet companies but found their offers unacceptable. The other companies wanted to move Gulistan out of state.
“This new financing will give us capital for growth and capital expenditure needs,” said Peter Kruyer, chief financial officer for Gulistan. “We have been covering our operating needs, but there have been opportunities we have had that we have been unable to take advantage of.
“Now we can be ready for new products and new equipment because of more money. As we expand, the sales force and rest of the business will grow.”
Gulistan’s home office will remain in Aberdeen. It will continue to operate its two other facilities, a dye operation in Turnersburg and a yarn-making plant in Wagram. All three companies are privately held.
Phillip Essig, CEO of the new company and president of Ronile, wouldn’t disclose the total amount of his family’s investment, beyond the $4.895 million recorded in the Moore County Register of Deeds office in Carthage for purchase of the real estate and physical property.
