Solamatrix to Acquire FTI Assets
Officials of the defunct Film Technologies International Inc. (FTI) announced today that Novomatrix Pte Ltd. of Singapore has entered into an agreement to acquire the discontinued company’s property, plant, equipment, intellectual property and various other manufacturing assets. FTI ceased manufacturing operations January 26, after experiencing a long decline and several failed attempts at establishing acquisition. (To view an exclusive interview with Don Wheeler, the company’s chief executive officer, CLICK HERE.) Novamatrix will acquire the assets through Solamatrix Inc, an affiliated company.

Novomatrix Pte Ltd (NVP) is a joint venture between Globamatrix Holdings (GMX) and Southern Capital Group, headquartered in Singapore. The GMX group currently owns and operates a number of window film brand names, including: V-KOOL®, Huper Optik®, Nanolux® and IQue®. Manufacturing, however, is a new endeavor for the company.

“This is a major milestone for the Novomatrix group of companies,” says Andrew Kwan, director of Novomatrix. “Its capabilities have been augmented, its offerings broadened and its standing elevated overnight with this upstream integration into the manufacturing arena.”

Kwan says the company has assembled a management team to spear head its new endeavor and it plans to start its new operations as soon as possible.

“We expect to fire up the engines operationally in short order as well,” says Colonel Wee Hian Woon, director.

FTI’s chief executive officer, Don Wheeler, says he is pleased that the legacy of his company’s brand names will continue.

“I have every confidence in their ability to re-employ the recently and extensively upgraded assets successfully and wish them the very best in their future endeavors,” Wheeler says.

It is unclear whether the new company will be able to reemploy any of FTI’s displaced employees.

Dave Fletcher, president and CEO of Solamatrix Inc, says the company’s investment will enable it deliver a U.S.-made product.

“Solamatrix will be positioned to deliver differentiated, good quality U.S.-made products serving the new SunGard, SafeGard and GlassGard network who are aligned with the group’s vision,” Fletcher says. “The company believes the group’s unique roots as a distributor will enable it to better understand the needs of the market as well as foster closer ties with its distribution network of choice...”

Look for further information in one of WINDOW FILM’s upcoming issues and in our e-mail newsletter. If you aren’t currently a subscriber to our monthly e-mail newsletter and would like to sign up, visit www.windowfilmmag.com and click on “Subscribe to Focus On Film, the Free e-Newsletter From WINDOW FILM Magazine!” To receive our print publication, click on “Subscribe to WINDOW FILM.”

Solutia, Banks Reach Financing Deal
(Source: stltoday.com)
Solutia Inc. on Monday reached a settlement with its banks, securing at a higher interest rate the financing it needs to emerge this week from bankruptcy reorganization.

The settlement ends a dispute between Solutia and its banks — Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — that had threatened to derail its four-year-old reorganization.
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