Diamond Foods Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. have called off their $1.5 billion deal for Diamond to buy the Pringles brand. Cereal maker Kellogg Co. is swooping and made a $2.7 billion deal to purchase the brand.A Fort Wayne plant that makes aerial-lift platforms is closing, putting 64 employees out of a job, according to a notice the company’s owner sent state officials.
In a notice posted Monday on the Indiana Department of Workforce Development Web site, Altec LLC said it will close its plant at 3020 Commercial Road by the end of October.
The plant makes platforms such as bucket trucks used to repair power lines.
The plant was called Lift-All until Birmingham, Ala.-based Altec bought it from Fort Wayne-based Hydra-Tech Inc. in December. At the time of the purchase, Altec President and CEO Lee Styslinger III said he didn’t plan any major changes to staffing at the plant.
But in its letter to the Department of Workforce Development, Altec said, "due to current economic conditions, Altec LLC is in the process of relocating operations for logistical/consolidation reasons."
Officials at Altec didn’t immediately respond Monday to questions about the closure.
The job losses add to Allen County’s unemployment rate, which was 10.7 percent in May, the most recent month for which statistics are available.
mschladen@jg.net
