After watching the company their parents founded 40 years ago begin to fall apart, Roy Moore and his two brothers decided earlier this month it was time to take the reins.
The Moore’s sold FWT to Baker Capital Corp. in 1997 for $145 million, following five years of more than 40-percent revenue growth. The Moore brothers retained a financial interest in the company after the sale, but they eventually distanced themselves from the operational matters of the company.
A series of unfavorable events, including a downturn in the tower manufacturing business, put FWT Inc.’s future in jeopardy. Earlier this month, RCR reported the company was experiencing extreme financial difficulties and was concerned about its ability to continue operations.
Several bondholders began approaching the Moores earlier this year, asking them to come back to the company to restore it to profitability and save the jobs of the company’s 162 employees.
On April 9, Moore and his brothers purchased the struggling company, and within days of the purchase, FWT filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The impetus of the filing, said Moore, is to restructure FWT’s balance sheet by converting its bondholders to equity shareholders.
The filing is not expected to affect the day-to-day operations of the company, and Moore said he expects the company to emerge from bankruptcy within a few months with a debt-free balance sheet, except working capital.
The brothers secured $7 million in working capital to be invested through an extension of secured debt.
Moore said in addition to an industry downturn and the large debt service the previous owners dealt with, the company has been both positively and negatively affected by the keen focus Baker Capital took on the operations of the business. More than 100 employees were laid off before the Moore’s regained control of the company.
Moore said the company now will focus its attention on re-building its customer relationships, including hiring customer-service personnel. Moore said the company has called several of its customers to explain the situation to them and he is confident many of them will continue to do business with FWT.
“This has been especially hard on my parents,” said Moore, who is now serving as FWT’s chief executive officer. “Even after selling the company for a nice sum, it was still a part of them.”
Moore also said it has been difficult since the sale of the company to see customers becoming frustrated with FWT.
“We did business with our customers like they were our friends,” said Moore. “When the customers were not being served, we felt like we were letting them down.”
