WINNSBORO (Dec. 18, 2015) – After only a little more than a year in business at 1 Quality Lane in Winnsboro, Enor Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In documents filed Dec. 2 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey, the manufacturer of toys and games said they faced more than $5 million in liabilities, while claiming only $248,659 in assets with cash, cash equivalents and financial assets totaling just over $11,595.
According to the documents, the company claimed $10,722,094 in business income between Jan. 1 and the bankruptcy filing date. That figure was up from earnings of $7,869,878 between December 2014 and October 2015, but off slightly from the $10,740,037 earned between December 2013 and November 2014.
On the list of Enor’s top 20 creditors, according to the documents, is the Town of Winnsboro’s Utility Department, to whom the company owes $135,029.
John Fantry, Winnsboro’s utilities attorney, confirmed this week that Enor had defaulted on their payment arrangement with the Town after making their November payment. Winnsboro will file a claim in Bankruptcy Court, Fantry said, to recover the funds.
Total claims against the company come in at just over $2,352,717. According to an accounts receivable schedule included in the documents, the company is owed more than $596,111, nearly half of which is more than 90 days past due. Walmart Stores owes the company $177,362, while Wal-Mart Canada Corp. owes Enor more than $175,894.
In addition to a long list of local individuals to whom Enor owes anywhere from between $350 and $1,700 each, several local merchants will also have to file claims for debts accrued. Topping the list of local merchants is Innovative Plastics SC in Ridgeway, to whom Enor is in debt to the tune of $12,935.
Brice Plumbing and Hobgood Electric & Machinery Co. in Winnsboro, and Midlands Fire Protection, Inc. in Blythewood are also among Enor’s local creditors.
Enor was introduced to Fairfield County in a ceremony in August 2014 at the Midlands QuickJobs Center in Winnsboro. Recruited to the area by Fairfield County Council and the S.C. Department of Commerce under the code name “Project Leprechaun,” Enor received a $300,000 Rural Infrastructure Fund grant from the S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development. Those funds were used to retrofit the 78,000-square-foot former Ruff & Tuff building at 1 Quality Lane, off Highway 321 S. Operations at the Winnsboro location began a month later.
The company was also the beneficiary of a Fee-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (FILOT) agreement with the County. Under the agreement, Enor committed to invest a minimum of $2,500,000 in economic development property and a minimum of $3,870,000 in property subject to ad valorem taxation over a 20-year period. Enor also agreed to create at least 151 new full-time jobs at the plant over a five-year span.
Enor’s payments to the County in lieu of taxes were capped at a 403.5 mills, with a 6 percent assessment ratio on economic development property.
Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator, said the Chapter 11 filing would have no immediate impact on the incentives package.
“However, the County and the Department of Commerce are closely monitoring this situation,” he added.
Phone calls to the Department of Commerce were not returned at press time.
Bankruptcy proceedings are not listed in the FILOT documents among the terms of default. A cessation of operations, including a closure of the plant or cessation of productions and shipment of products to customers for a continuous period of 12 months, however, is.
A spokesperson for Enor told The Voice last week that there were no plans to shut down operations in Winnsboro.
Enor is being represented in Bankruptcy Court by Jeffrey A. Cooper of the Livingston, N.J. law firm of Rabinowitz, Lubetkin & Tully. The first meeting of creditors is Jan. 6, 2016 in room 3B of the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building in Newark, N.J. The last day for creditors to file a claim is April 5, 2015.
