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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995                   TAG: 9501050036
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RUBATEX BUYS N.C. COMPANY, MOVING OFFICES TO ROANOKE

The parent of Bedford's Rubatex Corp. said Wednesday it has acquired Halstead Corp., which like Rubatex makes foam-rubber products, and plans to move Rubatex's corporate offices to Roanoke County.

RBX Holdings Inc.'s acquisition of Halstead, a subsidiary of Halstead Industries Inc. of Greensboro, N.C., increases Rubatex's employment from 950 to 1,450. Rubatex will take over operation of Halstead Corp.'s manufacturing plants in Colt, Ark., and Conover, N.C.

Rubatex plans to consolidate corporate mangement and administrative functions of the enlarged corporation at Valleypointe office park in Roanoke County by the end of March.

RBX declined to disclose terms of the acquisition, which first was announced in late November.

Corporate functions that will be moved to Valleypointe, where 73 people will work, will be sales and marketing, human resources, data processing, and part of the financial group, said Gerald Kirschke, vice president of human resources. The company will lease 17,000 square feet, according to Millie Moore, a broker with Boone & Co. Commercial Real Estate, who negotiated the transaction for Valleypointe owner Alan Lingerfelt.

No Virginia employees will be affected by the acquisition, Kirschke said. Rubatex has hired 10 people so far to work at the new office and has plans to hire as many as a dozen more, he said.

Some Halstead employees were not invited to move to Roanoke from the company's Greensboro headquarters, and others chose not to move, Kirschke said.

The acquisition of Halstead will give Rubatex additional technical, management and manufacturing strengths, according to a statement released by Rubatex. The enlarged company will produce the widest array of closed-cell sponge-rubber materials in the world, the statement said.

Foam rubber made by Rubatex goes into heating, ventilation and air-conditioning insulation; sporting goods; sports medicine products; and transportation-related products, among others.

Acquisition of Halstead will allow Rubatex to enhance its position in and enter new markets, the statement said.

Rubatex maintains warehouses in Decatur, Ga.; Houston; St. Louis; Denver; Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; and Kent, Wash.

About 800 workers at Rubatex's Bedford plant are members of the United Rubber Workers union. Workers at the former Halstead plant in Arkansas also are represented by a union. Workers in the North Carolina plant are not.