Stylus sold back to founding families

 

Upholstery maker's senior executives are now owners

Michael Knell -- Furniture Today, March 3, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The founding families of Canadian upholstery specialist Stylus, Made to Order Sofas have reacquired the company five years after selling majority interest to TerraVest Income Fund.

In 2004, TerraVest acquired an 80% stake in Stylus for C$22 million. Now, the Vegreville, Alberta, holding company has announced that it has sold that same stake back to the Ripoli and Barichello families for C$6.5 million.

"We are extremely excited by the prospect of returning to our original structure," company President Rick Ripoli said. "We believe the agility provided by a closely held private company will best allow Stylus to take advantage of the opportunities available."

He added, "While Stylus' involvement in TerraVest has been mutually beneficial we feel a less structured atmosphere will allow Stylus' management team to create a more collaborative environment."

Stylus current senior executives including Rick Ripoli; Dennis Ripoli, vice president of sales and marketing; and, Derek Barichello, vice president of production - have created a new parent, Stylus Sofas.

The company said this new structure will allow for a nearly seamless exchange that will not interrupt Stylus' business.

Stylus is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010

TerraVest said that the families acquired all of the assets and liabilities used in the Stylus business, which designs, manufactures and markets custom fabric upholstery and imports and markets of leather upholstery.

It also said that $6 million of the purchase price was paid on closing and that the balance will be payable on or before Aug. 31.

In a statement, TerraVest management said it believed that "disposing of its investment in Stylus is the fund's best opportunity to maximize its return on this investment, particularly in the current difficult environment for the North American furniture industry, and is, therefore, in the best interests of the fund and its investors."

For the nine months ending Sept. 30, TerraVest reported that Stylus had sales of C$19.5 million, down 15% from C$22.8 million for the comparable 2008 period.

TerraVest's other holdings are mostly in the energy sector, with the exception of Beco, one of the largest Canadian designers, manufacturers and distributors of home textiles.