"Abruptly" is the word being used by all media accounts to describe the July 24 closure of New England Confectionary Co. in Revere, Mass., just two months after apparently being rescued in a bankruptcy auction.
Round Hill Investments LLC, owned by serial investor C. Dean Metropoulos and his sons, said Necco has been sold to another company – which no news report has been able to name – and its operations were closed. Round Hill bought Necco for $17.3 million at an auction in May.
Employees were told in a meeting on Tuesday not to show up for work the next day.
“Round Hill Investments was very excited to acquire Necco’s historic brands and to be part of their national resurgence,” the company said in a statement to the Boston Globe. “After careful engagement and consideration, however, the firm decided to sell the brands to another national confection manufacturer and today announced the closure of the operations in Revere, Massachusetts.”
Round Hill was operating Necco, apparently the country’s oldest continuously operating candy company, under the name Sweetheart Candy Co. – named after another of its famous products. The Globe also reported Necco’s bankruptcy trustee, Harry Murphy, recently filed suit against Round Hill for trying to back out of a final $1 million purchase payment.
Metropoulos also bought Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, out of bankruptcy in 2013, but has successfully revitalized that company, albeit on a much smaller scale. He similarly bought failing Pabst Brewing Co. in 2010.
