TLC Beatrice Holdings Will Be Liquidated

TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., once the nation’s largest black-owned company, is being liquidated as part of an evolving strategy begun after the death of its founder, Reginald Lewis, in 1993.

The liquidation plan, announced Thursday along with the sale of its Spanish soft drink division, is expected to return a healthy profit for investors and the Lewis family, the company said.

That’s in line with the long-term goal to generate shareholder wealth that Lewis set when he bought the company in 1987 in a $985-million leveraged buyout, said his widow, Loida Nicolas Lewis, now the company’s chairwoman and chief executive.

“Mr. Lewis built the rocket ship,” she said. “He and I knew where he wanted to take it. That’s basically what happened.”

Lewis said that, although she had not originally intended to liquidate the company, a detailed examination of its growth potential convinced management that was the best course.

Throughout its short life, TLC Beatrice has been hailed as a success story.

In 1987, when TLC Beatrice reported revenue of $1.8 billion, it became the first black-owned company to have more than $1 billion in annual sales. The company then began its reign at the top of Black Enterprise magazine’s annual list of the country’s 100 biggest black-owned companies.

TLC Beatrice, which was closely held by the Lewis family and associates, hit its peak in 1996 when it had $2.23 billion in revenue.

Reginald Lewis epitomized a break from traditional investment patterns among blacks in which entrepreneurs might own one or two companies for life.

He made his first acquisition in 1984, with McCall Pattern Co., a supplier of sewing instructions, which he retooled and sold in 1987 at a 90-to-1 return on investment.

After Lewis’ death from brain cancer at age 50, TLC Beatrice went through a period of management and shareholder turmoil. His widow finally took over a year later and started selling the company’s subsidiaries.

After the sale of the Spanish beverage unit for $191 million, TLC Beatrice’s remaining assets consist mostly of the Tayto snack food business in Ireland, Bireley’s--a small beverage company in Thailand--and about $200 million in cash from earlier asset sales.