Wednesday, December 18th, 2019
Acquisition of Celina business planned
Coldwater company plans to purchase Visions/AwardCraft
By William Kincaid
CELINA - A new entity plans to purchase Visions/AwardCraft, a Celina-based manufacturer of corporate awards with a global footprint.
If the deal proceeds, the new owners would maintain Vision's operations and keep its 107 employees, Mercer County Community Development Director Jared Ebbing told the newspaper, citing a revolving loan fund application.
Visionary Partners Ltd. wants to acquire Visions/AwardCraft from Eighth Floor Promotions LLC, Ebbing said. Coldwater-based Signature Partners has a 70% stake in Visionary Partners, county documents read. "Various members" make up the remaining 30% of ownership.
Visionary Partners has applied for a $500,000 revolving loan that would be applied toward a proposed $1.51 million purchase of equipment at Visions' Celina facility "to continue to run the same products as Visions produced as well as improve and expand," the application states.
Ebbing said the proposed purchase price reflects only the equipment purchase, not the overall buyout of the company.
"We are only involved in the equipment," Ebbing stressed.
Visionary Partners would finance the equipment acquisition with the $500,000 revolving loan, $100,000 in equity and $917,384 from a private lender, county documents state.
Doug Klosterman of Signature Partners could not be reached for comment. Signature Partners comprises companies Forty Nine Degrees, which specializes in visual merchandising solutions for the display industry and environmental graphics and sculptures for colleges, and Signature4, which manufactures brand-name product identifiers, such as custom finishes and 3-D chrome-plated metal logos.
County commissioners set a mandatory public hearing at 10 a.m. Dec. 31 to review and potentially take action on the revolving loan application. The county can issue a maximum of $500,000 per revolving loan, Ebbing noted.
If approved, the seven-year loan would charge 3% interest, Ebbing said. Visionary partners would be required to retain 50 full-time equivalent jobs - of which 37 are to be held by low- to moderate-income people - related to the equipment to be purchased.
The revolving loans can be used to buy fixed assets such as land, buildings, machinery and equipment and as working capital to expand an existing or start-up business.
Unless used for local infrastructure needs or removal of blight and slums, the loans are repaid to the fund with interest to fund future loans.
