As part of the company's continuing restructuring initiatives, Beaulieu Residential says it will exit the hard-surface flooring and general distribution business in the West and Southwest United States by returning those facets of its operation to the former shareholders of LDBrinkman.
The agreement covers the transfer of all hard-surface business and operations currently operated by Beaulieu in the nation's West and Southwest regions, as well as the buildings, equipment and other assets of Hollytex Carpet Mills in Anadarko and Watonga, Okla.
The transaction also marks the return to the industry of Tom Karol and Levon Ezell. Both are credited with building LDBrinkman into the largest flooring distributor in the country prior to its 1999 acquisition by Beaulieu.
Although Beaulieu is divesting carpet operations in Oklahoma, it is not transferring the Hollytex name. Instead, Brinkman will market its new line of carpet under the "Columbus" name.
