Plastics Maker in Orange Says Creditors Seized Its Assets

Urethane Technologies Inc., a struggling plastics maker that quietly shut down operations last week, acknowledged Thursday that its operating assets have been seized by creditors.

The company also said that trading in its stock has been halted, but that officials of the Nasdaq market have given it 10 days to file an operating plan and resume trading.

Urethane said a creditor foreclosed last week on the assets of its chemicals subsidiary in North Carolina while another creditor is forcing the sale of its Orange-based manufacturing subsidiary, PDL Inc. The two subsidiaries, which made products for the construction, automotive and recreation equipment industries, “represented virtually all of the company’s assets and all of its ongoing business,” Urethane Chairman Jim Orefice said in a statement.

He said he hopes to find buyers for the PDL assets “who will take over the operation and provide jobs for the loyal employees . . . who have stayed with us through these most difficult times.”

Orefice said Thursday that the company is in discussions with an investor interested in acquiring the Urethane Technologies corporate identity but not the operating subsidiaries.

“If this were to come to fruition, we believe that it might bring some value to our shareholders,” he said. The company’s stock last traded at 1.56 cents a share.