Eagle Inds. purchased by management

Also is in talks with lender to seek more financing

Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, October 18, 2010

HIGH POINT — A core management group of Eagle Inds. says it has purchased 100% of the shares of the Bowling Green, Ky.-based producer of home office, home entertainment and occasional furniture.

An official of the company, which is showing at this week's High Point Market, declined to identify the six key management officials involved in the purchase. The official said that they acquired the company from Ohio businessmen Jerry Besanceney and Mike Luken, who owned two thirds of the shares, and from general manager Amado Rivas, who has owned a third of the shares since February 2009.

Rivas remains general manager and will have an option to repurchase his ownership stake later, the official said. The company also said it is in talks with its lender to receive additional financing, but offered no specifics.

Local management has been in talks to purchase the company for about a year, but the deal was not completed until this past week.

The 25-year-old company, which has about 300 employees and does about $20 million in annual sales, is not expected to change its domestic production model as a result of the change in ownership. Currently, most of its mix, which includes home office, home entertainment, kitchen islands and fireplace units, is made in Bowling Green.

The company imports unfinished dining tables and chairs from Malaysia and assembles and finishes those sets in Bowling Green.

In its market showroom, space 212 of Center Point, the company is showing eight new Mission-inspired entertainment units and 14 new kitchen islands, which have multiple top options in slate, granite and butcher block.

More High Point Market October 2010 Coverage