GelSolutions in Wichita Falls, Texas, a gel component supplier owned by Natura World co-founder Ralph Rossdeutscher, laid off its remaining 10 employees on Sept. 21, according to a report by KAUZ-TV News Channel 6 in Wichita Falls.
The facility also had housed Natura World U.S.A.’s headquarters and manufacturing, which shut down earlier this year. The property was listed for sale about six months ago, according to news reports.
Natura World received an incentives package from Wichita Falls and Wichita County valued at $8 million to open the plant. The mattress and components maker promised to bring about 400 manufacturing jobs to the area before the recession hit.
Natura World, which had headquarters in Cambridge, Ontario, filed for bankruptcy protection under Canadian law in December 2011. Its U.S. operations were not a part of the filing, but its Texas workforce and production were scaled back in the months prior to the filing.
Natura World’s Canadian operations, including its GelSolutions unit in Canada, were purchased out of receivership by Toronto-based mattress maker Spring Air Sommex in April. At the time of the deal, Sommex said Rossdeutscher would serve as executive vice president of the Natura division of Spring Air Sommex. Natura’s U.S. operations were not a part of the deal.
Neither Rossdeutscher nor executives at Spring Air Sommex could be reached for comment on this story.
