American LaFrance owner to buy PVI

Two companies fighting for survival may join forces after Patriarch Partners, owner of American LaFrance, signed an agreement to buy Protected Vehicles for $5 million this week. A bankruptcy court still has to approve the deal, however.

From the Charleston Regional Business Journal:

PVI, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, filed a request in court this week to sell assets including intellectual property, equipment, inventory and contract rights.

The proposed buyer is Patriarch Partners, which owns American LaFrance. Last week, American LaFrance permanently let go 35 employees at its Summerville plant and announced it would no longer manufacture firetrucks there. The company said it planned to replace the lost business with either an expansion of its vocational truck production or a new venture in vehicle manufacturing — or both.

Whether American LaFrance would take over production of PVI’s armored vehicles is unknown. Patriarch CEO Lynn Tilton was unavailable Friday morning, and an American LaFrance representative did not know of the sale.

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