By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
Fountain Powerboat Industries Inc., parent company of Fountain Powerboats, has been allowed to reorganize and retain its assets.
Following a hearing held in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of North Carolina on Friday morning, chief bankruptcy judge Randy Doub ruled in favor of Fountain and will allow the company to restructure its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganize with Liberty Investments.
As previously reported in the Daily News, the investment group will be majority shareholders in the company. Liberty will help finance the reorganization of the company and help the company pay off its creditors. Reggie Fountain will be retained as the sportboat company’s president and CEO under the new deal.
Earlier in the year, Liberty became majority shareholders in two fledgling powerboat companies — Donzi and Pro-Line Boats. Fountain called the group of investors “avid boat lovers.”
“I would like to thank my lord and savior, Jesus Christ, for helping us get through this thing,” Fountain said following the ruling. “Our destiny is in our own hands.”
The sportboat company will move ahead with taking orders, but Fountain cautioned that turning his company’s debt into a profit will be no easy task, especially considering that it’s the offseason in boating.
“We’re going to try to do what we can to get over the hump,” he said. “But, it’s not a done deal. How everything is determined is up to Liberty and the courts.”
The sportboat company is some $19.6 million in debt to the Oxford Investment Group, which purchased Fountain’s bank note from its largest creditor, Regions Bank, for $6.5 million several weeks ago. Judge Doub ruled that the sportboat company make monthly payments of $29,375 to Oxford to pay off the bank note.
Oxford, under the name FB Investments LLC., was looking to obtain Fountain Powerboats’ assets at the bankruptcy hearing, but will now be treated as a creditor.
Fountain was on the witness stand for over an hour Friday during the hearing. He cited several key facts about the company and its economic impact on Beaufort County and eastern North Carolina. The company has made some $991 million in sales since starting over 30 years ago, and has paid over $247 million in salaries during that time, according to Fountain.
“One-fourth of our production goes to the salaries of the people in the community,” he said. “I’m very proud of that.”
At one time, the company, which is based out of a 65-acre plant on the south side of the Pamlico River, employed more than 400 people.
Fountain hopes that Liberty will keep the sportboat company in the county.
“My goal for the future is to try to keep the company here and move forward,” Fountain said. “We’re going to be here working hard.”