Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 29, 1994 TAG: 9412290098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FOREST LENGTH: Medium
United Mail Corp., a company set up by Reber and Thomas, bought the company's assets at a foreclosure sale that was part of an out-of-court settlement made this month with Roger Ott and Charles Keith, DMC's former owners.
As part of that settlement, United Mail purchased the notes of a $2 million loan - which it still must pay off - and became DMC's largest creditor.
Bill Boland, an attorney for Reber, said Reber and Thomas are confident they can revitalize DMC, which was Bedford County's second-largest employer until last month, when nearly all of the company's workers were laid off.
``They definitely plan to put these assets to work,'' he said.
Boland was reluctant to speculate on when DMC's employees will be called back to work, but said he expects customers to return now that the company ``has more stability.''
Boland said United Mail Corp. will run its direct-mail business out of DMC's former location in the Forest Square Shopping Center.
The foreclosure sale was another chapter in the tumultuous history of DMC, a company that went from profits of $2.6 million two years ago to a loss of $300,000 last year.
United Mail purchased a 13-page inventory of equipment that included printing presses, forklift trucks, inserting machines, typesetters and folding machines.
DMC was one of only four facilities in the country that offered ``one-stop'' shopping for companies that use mass mailings. The company could make envelopes, print and personalize fund-raising letters, and stuff all of the pieces into the envelope.
Reber and Thomas created DMC in 1989, then sold it in 1992 to Ott and Keith, former marketing executives with the Washington Times. Reber continued to work at DMC until this past January, when Keith and Ott dismissed him as CEO.
The company employed 340 workers in May 1993, but shortly after that the company's financial and legal troubles began.
Reber filed two lawsuits in March: One alleged that DMC fired him in breach of an employment contract; the other asked the court to dissolve the leasing company that owns the shopping center where DMC is located.
Ott and Keith fired back with a federal lawsuit accusing Reber and Thomas of securities fraud that had damaged DMC's profitability.
The cases were settled out of court a week after DMC - struggling to pay off the $2 million loan used to finance a company expansion - laid off its workers.
Nine people - representing printing and direct-mail companies in Roanoke, Lynchburg and Richmond - bid Wednesday on individual items.
Their effort was fruitless, however, because the combined bid of those bidders was $248,000, just a fraction of what United Mail bid for all of the assets.
Reber and Thomas are known around Lynchburg as saviors of Liberty University. In recent years, the partners saved the school from foreclosure by buying up more than $30 million of its debt.
Boland said Wednesday that Ott would work at United Mail with Reber and Thomas. He wouldn't comment on Keith's future, but sources familiar with the company say he is going to return to Washington.
by CNB