Norseman Group Ltd. of Edmonton has bought the assets of Cover-All Building Systems for $14 million.The company plans to resume operations at the former Cover-All plant in Saskatoon in the next few weeks. Norseman already makes fabric membrane structures and rig enclosures and was a competitor with Cover-All, which made steel frame fabric-covered buildings.Cover-All went into receivership in April, laying off most of its 483 employees. It ran into financial problems and had liabilities of about $96 million when it sought creditor protection.It also faced lawsuits associated with the failure of several Cover-All buildings in the United States, including the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys training facility in May 2009 during a windstorm.Mark Mascotto, Norseman’s vice-president of marketing, said the company was surprised by the support of the dealer network.“We are in discussion with 60 to 70 percent of the previous dealer network so we are very hopeful that we will be able to ramp up much faster than we originally anticipated,” he said.The new owners bought only Cover-All’s assets. The lawsuits and liabilities remain with Cover-All.Mascotto said Norseman is reviewing the products, design and processes at the former Cover-All plant.“We are going through very exhaustive engineering reviews, both internal and external, of the designs,” he said.Founded in 1921, Norseman Group Ltd. is the parent of several companies, including Norseman Structures Inc. and Norseman Inc., which produce industrial fabric and foam products for the construction and bulk packaging industries.
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