The week's business headlines

Patio Enclosures goes to employee ownership
Last month, Patio Enclosures Inc. of Macedonia, Ohio, became 100 percent employee owned through an employee stock ownership plan, according to a Jan. 22 company release … read more

Solutia refinancing increases liquidity for operations and pensions
Officials from St. Louis-based Solutia Inc. extended the company’s debtor-in-possession credit facility, allowing the company to better fund operations and mandatory 2007 pension payments, according to a Jan. 25 company release.

The amended DIP financing, worth $1.2 billion and at a reduced interest rate, will mature March 31, 2008. The DIP is a $400 million increase and one-year extension over prior DIP financing, according to the release… read more

Asahi India reports huge gains in third quarter
Consolidated net profits for glassmaker Asahi India Glass Ltd. increased 382 percent in the third quarter of 2006 compared to the same period last year, according to a Jan. 22 company earnings report. Third quarter gross sales for the company was up 48 percent for the quarter, compared to 2005… read more

Glass sector helps drive industrial production in Argentina
Argentina’s glass industry reported the second highest production gains of any sector in 2006, increasing by 14.3 percent year-over-year, according to a Jan. 23 article from the EIU ViewsWire Select… read more

U.S. equity firm sells Hungarian glassmaker
The Riverside Co., an equity firm out of New York City, sold Salgglas, a Hungary-based glass company, to CEE Industrial Holdings Ltd. of Greece, according to a Jan. 24 report from the Interfax news agency.

Salgglas manufacturers tempered and laminated glass products. Sales for the company increased 230 percent during the nine years it was owned by The Riverside Co., according to the report.

The cost of the deal is undisclosed… read more