Published: November 21, 2008 10:24 am         

Coachmen sells RV business to Forest River

Another sign of the harsh economic times showed itself this morning.

Coachmen Industries’ RV Group of Middlebury has been purchased by competitor Forest River.

According to a press release, Forest River will offer employment to almost 85 percent of Coachmen’s RV Group employees in Indiana. Some workers will be transferred to continuing Coachmen operations, while others will interview with Forest River to “explore career opportunities.”

“With this transaction, we secure the future for this proud brand and the employees of our RV Group,” Coachmen Chief Executive Officer Richard Lavers said in the release. “This announcement will also end the speculation over whether Coachmen itself will survive these extraordinarily difficult times and preserve the jobs of our employee base in both our RV and housing segments.”

Financial details of the deal have not yet been released. Coachmen’s board of directors will hold a special shareholder meeting as the deal must be approved by shareholders. The meeting is currently set for Tuesday, but will be held as soon as is practical after the company files a statement with the Security and Exchange Commission and that statement clears the SEC.

Should the deal go through, Forest River will acquire Coachmen’s recreational vehicle brands, product lines, central manufacturing operations in Middlebury and dealership in Elkhart. The ARBOC Mobility bus unveiled by Coachmen earlier this year will remain with the company.

In the release, Lavers called Forest River “a large, financially secure, diversified and well-managed company with a proven track record of demonstrated success in the RV Industry.”

Representatives from the companies did not immediately return phone messages.

Coachmen Industries was founded in Middlebury in 1964. Its full line of RV products includes Class A and Class C motorhomes, fifth wheels, travel trailers and folding camping trailers produced in the state, as well as in Georgia and Michigan.

Company brand names include Coachmen, Georgie Boy, Sportscoach, Adrenaline and Viking. Coachmen is a publicly held company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker COA. Coachmen stock closed at $.57 per share in trading Thursday, a gain of 0.05. The company’s stock traded as high as $6.40 per share back on Dec. 28, 2007.

According to its Web site, Forest River’s “large production capacity enables us to fill our customers’ orders promptly without cutting corners or rushing through production procedures. This ensures that each Forest River product is conscientiously built and undergoes thorough, detailed inspection before it’s shipped to the customer.”

CEO Peter Liegl founded the company in 1996 as a company “dedicated to experience the joy of the outdoors by building better recreational vehicles,” the Web site said.

Forest River has plants in Millersburg, Middlebury, Goshen and Elkhart. Its corporate headquarters are in Elkhart.

In July of 2005, Forest River was purchased from Liegl by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Internationally known investor Warren Buffett is chairman of the holding company, which owns subsidiaries in various areas of business, including property and casualty insurance.