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Mohawk Fine Papers Inc. of Cohoes is days away from being acquired by the Fedrigoni Group, a private equity-backed Italian company that makes specialty papers.
Mohawk's chief revenue officer, Melissa Stevens, confirmed to the Business Review on Wednesday that a deal is in progress.
Stevens said she could not disclose details of the deal but said the acquisition is "to come in a matter of days."
Stevens also confirmed that approximately 75 employees of Crane Stationery, a business unit of Mohawk, were notified yesterday that they were laid off effective immediately.
Stevens said she would be willing to speak more about the acquistion once it is completed.
A representative for Fedrigoni said she could not comment until the deal has closed.
Thomas D. O'Connor Jr., a third-generation leader of the company, told the Business Review that he retired as CEO of Mohawk several months ago. He then took on a consulting role with the company, which ended Feb. 11, he said.
The company website doesn't currently identify a CEO.
In an interview on Wednesday, Assemblyman John McDonald, a Democrat from Cohoes, called the layoffs "very concerning."
McDonald said he learned of the layoffs Tuesday night. "It needs to be remedied in a very quick manner," he said.
A potential change in ownership of Mohawk had been "somewhat common knowledge," according to McDonald.
Mohawk and Fedrigoni announced a partnership in 2022 that allowed Fedrigoni to use Mohawk's factories and helped Mohawk mitigate its shipping costs to Europe.
Around the same time, Mohawk reached a new financing agreement with CIT Northbridge Credit of New York. The CIT deal allowed Mohawk to refinance existing debt, while giving the company working capital. Fedrigoni also provided financing to Mohawk in the form of a convertible note. Terms of both financing deals were not made public.
Last August Mohawk became the North America distributor of Fedrigoni’s Specialty Fine Papers.
As of this past summer, Mohawk had 276 full-time employees in the Capital Region, according to data submitted by the company to the Business Review.
In early 2019, according to an earlier submission, Mohawk had 338 employees. More than 98% of the company was owned by the O'Connor family as of that time.
Mohawk is the largest privately owned manufacturer of fine papers and envelopes in North America, according to its website. Its headquarters is located at 465 Saratoga St. in Cohoes. It also has locations in Ashtabula, Ohio, and South Hadley, Massachusetts.
Fedrigoni was acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity in 2017. Bain later entered into a joint-ownership agreement with investment firm BC Partners for Fedrigoni.