MONARCH RUBBER PART OF GLOBAL OPERATION - Spencer Rubber Company Deal Completed

(03/14/2004)

Sixty-seven workers at Roane County's well-known rubber manufacturing facility will keep their jobs under a new owner, Armacell LLC. Armacell has purchased the Monarch Rubber Co.'s 69,000-square-foot plant adjacent the old Spencer High School along Main Street. Terms of the sale have not been disclosed. Malcolm MacDougall, an Armacell spokesman in the company's U.S. headquarters in North Carolina, said "Our intent is to grow the business including the Spencer operation. But [first] we need to fully assess the place." Armacell said Monarch is "a leading manufacturer and developer of high quality cellular rubber and plastic foams used in the automotive, electronic, footwear and sporting goods industries, among others." Monarch, based in Baltimore, has owned the Spencer plant since 1950. Armacell said in a statement: "This is another step consistent with our vision of global leadership in technical foam manufacturing." Armacell employees about 2,000 people worldwide. Monarch retirees had already been compensated as part of a profit-sharing arrangement, said David M. Schwaeber, the company's president. "Any retiree of Monarch has been paid out their fair share," he said.

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