Dave Presby, owner of Presby Environmental of Whitefield and several other North Country businesses, have purchased the assets of Isaacson Steel, Inc., which has been struggling for some time.
The deal was approved by the New Hampshire Bankruptcy Court on January 31. The new company will be called Presby Steel, LLC and will continue to operate at its current location at 143 East Milan Road in Berlin.
This is a good North Country business that needs to be saved, said Presby. Over the next months we will be investing dollars and resources and standing behind the company with all of the Presby resources. We want to continue to provide products at reasonable prices, with good service from a centralized location. This is a business that is needed and can be viable and we are going to put forth every effort to make that happen. We plan to retain as many employees as the new business will allow.
As a longtime Berlin employer, Isaacson Steel sold steel and other metals around New England to loggers, contractors and others that use steel in their businesses. Presby intends to restock the shelves at Presby Steel and continue to service all of Isaacson's clients and open up new markets.
Presby Steel will lease the building from BIDPA, the Berlin Industrial Development Park Authority, in a long-term lease agreement.
Jim McMahon of Whitefield was named general manager of the new business. We will be striving to make this acquisition as transparent to the customer as possible, McMahon said. They shouldn't see any differences except for a positive change. We'll be up and running as soon as possible with major improvements in the availability of steel and other metals.
Presby, who has purchased a lot of steel throughout the years from Isaacson Steel, said he didn't want to see the business liquidated after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. This is where the North Country and all of northern New England comes to find its steel, he said. We want to continue to be that for all of those individuals and businesses. We also want to save as many jobs as possible.