Barna employees going back to work
Just weeks after most of the remaining employees at at Oneida log home manufacturer were laid off and operations ceased, production at the company could soon begin again.
Several distributors of Barna Log Homes banded together to form a new company — Log Investors Inc. — and could soon complete acquisition of Barna’s corporate assets.
That acquisition could be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2009. In the meantime, as many as 50 of the employees laid off by the company last year have reportedly already been called back to work.
Operations at Barna ceased on Nov. 7, when the remaining 25 employees at the firm’s Oneida headquarters were laid off. At the time, sources familiar with the situation acknowledged that discussions were underway to find investors for the company, which is billed as the world’s largest manufacturer of log homes.
Log Investors Inc. is reportedly made up of 13 current distributors of Barna Log Homes, and apparently reached an acquisition deal with Barna officials in late December.
Officials of the new company were not immediately available for comment Tuesday; however, the company’s CFO, Joy Mulkern, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the company is confident that the poor economic conditions — which led to Barna’s troubles — are beginning to improve.