Keeline-Wilcox Pays Off $4 Million in Debts

Keeline-Wilcox Nurseries Inc., a north Oxnard producer of interior plants used in commercial buildings and homes, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy--and has paid 100% of its debts of more than $4 million.

The company, one of the world’s largest producers of Kentia palms from the South Pacific, filed a bankruptcy petition in January, 1992, in U. S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Barbara, partly because of a legal dispute with former managers who launched a takeover bid.

“We were able to maintain our operations throughout the process. We even broadened our market,” said Steven A. Smith, Keeline-Wilcox’s president. He said the firm’s plants, once sold exclusively to other nurseries, are also being marketed through major home-improvement retailers.

Under Chapter 11 of U. S. bankruptcy laws, a company is protected from its creditors while seeking court approval of a plan to reorganize its debts and repay creditors.

Keeline-Wilcox has 28 employees and annual sales of $2.6 million.