Monaco Coach Corporation - History

History

Monaco was incorporated in 1968 as the Caribou Manufacturing Company. They began building pickup campers. The most popular line was named "Monaco." In 1977 the name was changed to Monaco Coach Corporation. It acquired the Roadmaster Chassis Division of Chrysler Corporation in 1984 and the Holiday Rambler Division of Harley-Davidson in 1996. In 1987 Kay Toolson was appointed President. Monaco manufactured seven brands of motorhomes and RVs, including Monaco, Beaver, Safari, McKenzie, Holiday Rambler, R-Vision, and Roadmaster Chassis. In 1994 Monaco President Kay Toolson announced they would move their Junction City operations to the Coburg Industrial Park in Eugene, Oregon.

On March 4, 1996, the Monaco Coach Corporation acquired from Harley-Davidson, Inc. certain assets of Holiday Rambler (the "Holiday Acquisition") in exchange for $21.5 million in cash, 65,217 shares of Redeemable Preferred Stock (which was subsequently converted into 230,767 shares of Common Stock), and the assumption of most of the liabilities of Holiday Rambler. Concurrently, the Company acquired ten Holiday World Dealerships for $13.0 million, including a $12.0 million subordinated.

In 2005, the company had sales of approximately US$1.2 billion, and employed nearly 5,400 people.

On March 5, 2009 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankrutpcy. On April 24, 2009 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, an attorney for Monaco said the company had signed an asset purchase agreement with Workhorse International Holding Co., a Navistar International subsidiary. Monaco's CEO was Kay Toolson. On June 23, 2009, Judge Kevin Carey agreed to the company’s request to convert its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to a Chapter 7 case so it could liquidate its remaining assets, seven pieces of real estate in Oregon, Indiana and Florida. The order converting the case to Chapter 7 was effective June 30. Monaco Coach Corporation sold its factories, inventory, brands and intellectual property to Navistar International Corp. earlier in June for $47 million. The RV resort properties in California, Nevada, Florida and Michigan were sold to various other buyers. Once the remaining assets are liquidated under Chapter 7, “the entity ceases to exist,” and effectively spells the end of Monaco Coach Corporation, said Andrea Coles-Bjerre, an assistant law professor at the University of Oregon and a former bankruptcy lawyer in New York.

Monaco RV LLC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International Corp.

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