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

DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995                   TAG: 9508110043
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW RUBATEX OWNER KNOWS INDUSTRY

By now, Rubatex Corp. probably is used to being a financial football.

For the second time in five years, the Roanoke-based maker of foam rubber products and its plant in Bedford will be purchased by a group of private investors.

But the sale announced Tuesday could be different.

Since 1990, Rubatex's parent company, RBX Holdings Inc., has been owned by New York-based AEA Investors, whose partners include Roger Smith, the former chief executive officer of General Motors Corp. AEA has taken a mostly hands-off approach to the firm and relied on hired managers for its knowledge of the rubber industry.

The same probably won't be said about American Industrial Partners, which last week agreed to buy the company in a deal expected to be done in about two months.

Formed in 1989 and based in San Francisco and New York, AIP counts among its many partners Thomas Barrett, a former chairman and chief executive officer of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. And AIP already is in the rubber business - it recently completed an $80 million buyout of Day International Inc., an Ohio-based rubber manufacturer.

``AIP has more familiarity with our business than AEA had,'' RBX's president and chief executive officer, Steve Schaefer, said Thursday. ``We view that as a plus - it's always easier to get support from those with a background in the industry.''

AIP is interested in investment opportunities through RBX, Schaefer said, which may mean acquisitions by RBX. Rubatex nearly doubled its work force this year when it bought Halstead Corp., which had two foam-rubber manufacturing plants in North Carolina and Arkansas.

Schaefer said he also believes AIP will be more likely than AEA to invest in capital improvements at RBX's existing plants.

It's too premature to talk about AIP's exact plans for RBX and Rubatex, Schaefer said, but he doesn't expect major changes in operations or management.

One thing that probably won't change, he said, is the buyers' goal:

``Like AEA, ultimately [AIP] will look for a way to recoup their investment. I wouldn't want to speculate on when that will be, but at some point, they'll probably take it public or sell it. That's what investment companies do.''