
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 20, 1994                   TAG: 9412200075
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FORECLOSURE SALE PLANNED FOR DMC

The assets of Direct Mail Communications in Forest will be sold in a public foreclosure sale Dec. 28 - a move likely to put former owners Daniel Reber and Jimmy Thomas back in control of Bedford County's second-largest employer.

The foreclosure sale is part of an out-of-court settlement Reber and Thomas made this month with Roger Ott and Charles Keith, DMC's owners.

Reber and Thomas created DMC in 1989, then sold it in 1992 to Ott and Keith. Since March, three lawsuits involving the company have been filed in federal and state courts.

Reber sued DMC, claiming he was unjustly fired as chief executive officer, and the company then sued Reber and Thomas, alleging that the partners had committed securities fraud that damaged the company's profitability.

Although the settlement was sealed, meaning its contents could not be made public, the foreclosure sale is part of that agreement.

Reber's attorney, William Boland, said the secured creditor in charge of the auction is United Mail Corp., which is owned by Reber and Thomas.

Boland said United Mail became DMC's largest creditor when it purchased the notes of a $2 million loan that Central Fidelity Bank made DMC in November 1992. The money was used to finance a 26,000-square-foot expansion of the direct-mail facility.

Boland said the outstanding debt on notes purchased by Direct Mail is "approaching $2 million."

Notice of the foreclosure sale was published as a legal advertisement in several newspapers in the region. It says United Mail has a right to sell the company's assets as a "single unit, to bid on the assets and to reject unsatisfactory offers."

Boland, who is in charge of the foreclosure, confirmed that United Mail would be bidding at the auction, and said he hasn't gotten calls from any other potential buyers.

Equipment in the sale includes printing presses, forklift trucks, inserting machines, typesetters and folding machines.

Boland said the sale doesn't include DMC's building. Direct Mail leases space in the Forest Square Shopping Center from Direct Mail Leasing, a company jointly owner by Reber, Ott and Keith.

Most of DMC's 200 workers have been laid off since Nov. 23, more than a week before the suits were settled. Boland said he's hopeful the company's reorganization will put the employees back to work early next year.

by CNB