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Dan River jobs to go to Gujarat
30 Dec '05
2 min read
A small town in America is bracing itself for loss of jobs to India. No big news here, except, this is a flight of manufacturing jobs.
Residents of Danville, located in Southern Virginia, seem reconciled to losing up to 1,000 jobs after the Indian firm Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd (GHCL) bought the local company Dan River recently.
Founded in 1883, Dan River employed almost 2,000 people till recently and is central to the region's economy.
At one time it was the leading manufacturer of light-weight yarn-dyed woven fabrics in the western hemisphere. Even today it supplies major stories in the US products such as bed-in-a-bag and other home products such as comforters, sheets, pillow cases and draperies.
But the company has been in t e r m i n a l decline over the past few years and has closed several facilities in the city.
It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004 and emerged from bankruptcy only in February this year.
According to reports from India, GHCL will purchase 90 per cent of Dan River's stock, valued at $17.5 million. GHCL will also assume $80 million of Dan River's debt.
Dan River's acquisition is expected to give GHCL direct access to established American retailers such as Wal-Mart, JC Penney and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Dan River employees and local leaders are on tenterhooks about the fallout of the acquisition, going by the accounts in the local media. “I will be anxious to see what impact this will have on the community as a whole,” Danville Mayor John Hamlin told a local newspaper.
According to Calvin Barnhardt, Dan River's vice-president of human relations, Dan River employs 1,700 people, about 1,000 of whom work in the Danville facility, with an unknown number commuting other parts of North Carolina. Of those employees, 730 work in the manufacturing jobs that may be at greatest risk of moving overseas.
Residents of Danville, located in Southern Virginia, seem reconciled to losing up to 1,000 jobs after the Indian firm Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd (GHCL) bought the local company Dan River recently.
Founded in 1883, Dan River employed almost 2,000 people till recently and is central to the region's economy.
At one time it was the leading manufacturer of light-weight yarn-dyed woven fabrics in the western hemisphere. Even today it supplies major stories in the US products such as bed-in-a-bag and other home products such as comforters, sheets, pillow cases and draperies.
But the company has been in t e r m i n a l decline over the past few years and has closed several facilities in the city.
It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004 and emerged from bankruptcy only in February this year.
According to reports from India, GHCL will purchase 90 per cent of Dan River's stock, valued at $17.5 million. GHCL will also assume $80 million of Dan River's debt.
Dan River's acquisition is expected to give GHCL direct access to established American retailers such as Wal-Mart, JC Penney and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Dan River employees and local leaders are on tenterhooks about the fallout of the acquisition, going by the accounts in the local media. “I will be anxious to see what impact this will have on the community as a whole,” Danville Mayor John Hamlin told a local newspaper.
According to Calvin Barnhardt, Dan River's vice-president of human relations, Dan River employs 1,700 people, about 1,000 of whom work in the Danville facility, with an unknown number commuting other parts of North Carolina. Of those employees, 730 work in the manufacturing jobs that may be at greatest risk of moving overseas.
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