American Safety Razor fighting for it's life...

[KiltedShaver]

Via Reuters (Linky below)

Amercian Safety Razor, provider and manufacturer of razors and razor blades is having financial woes. This would be problematic for us if they went under.

Reuters Article on ASR

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[gsurko]

Maybe we could get them some" bail out money."

 

[michiganlover]

This has been reported, and discussed quite in depth in the Razor Blades sub-forum:

ASR going Bankrupt? Buy your Personna's now!

American Safety Razor Company Receives Refinancing Proposal!

 

[GDCarrington]

"The proposal involved only the company's U.S. and Puerto Rican operations as its other non-U.S. operations and entities were not borrowers under the debt being refinanced."

This means that the corporate structure the U.S. and Non-U.S. sides are incorporated under different entities.

This may mean that the Israeli blade factory will not be affected.

I hope so.

 

[haiti222]

There is a June 25 article linked at the bottom of the page. This new strategy worries me more:


Another source said Lion Capital had called in restructuring advisors late last year to advise it on operational changes at the razor company, including a shift to mass market shaving products such as those sold at Wal-Mart and away from lower volume, premium industrial blades

 

[GoVegan]

Just curious, if ASR goes under will there be any decent DE blades produced in America?

 

[JPDyson]

Just curious, if ASR goes under will there be any decent DE blades produced in America?

I thought all of the decent American blades were Personna-sourced, so I'm thinking "no".

Better time than any other before to go Japanese! Feather FTW

 

[Alec79]

Is this the company which makes the generic store brand carts for the older Gillette cart razors?

 

[Patrik]

There is a June 25 article linked at the bottom of the page. This new strategy worries me more:


Another source said Lion Capital had called in restructuring advisors late last year to advise it on operational changes at the razor company, including a shift to mass market shaving products such as those sold at Wal-Mart and away from lower volume, premium industrial blades

Does this mean Ted Pella SEs could face extinction? *Looks skyward* Noooooooooo!

I suppose some solace lies in the probability that the production of Israeli Crystal and Red Pack DEs will go on.

 

[ackvil]

Is this the company which makes the generic store brand carts for the older Gillette cart razors?

They make non-branded blades for many retail stores and chains.

 

[Squash]

Personna is my brand, so should I start stalking up now?

 

[JPDyson]

Personna is my brand, so should I start stalking up now?

I'd recommend stocking up; fewer legal implications

In all seriousness, depends on the variety. Some folks have said the Israeli Personnas should be safe, but the US (like CVS and WalMart DE's) are probably on the way out.

 

[michiganlover]

They make non-branded blades for many retail stores and chains.

Correct, but not all store branded carts for the Trac II, and Atra are made by Personna. Some of them are made by Dorco of Korea (for example the Dual Fit carts sold through Dollar General).

 

[michiganlover]

Does this mean Ted Pella SEs could face extinction? *Looks skyward* Noooooooooo!

I suppose some solace lies in the probability that the production of Israeli Crystal and Red Pack DEs will go on.

You might want to get in on the Ted Pella SE blade group buy:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=156922

 

[Squash]

I'd recommend stocking up; fewer legal implications

Nice one, so true. I actually thought about that in the car today.

 

[Swampfox]

"The proposal involved only the company's U.S. and Puerto Rican operations as its other non-U.S. operations and entities were not borrowers under the debt being refinanced."

This means that the corporate structure the U.S. and Non-U.S. sides are incorporated under different entities.

This may mean that the Israeli blade factory will not be affected.

I hope so.

According to ASR they have no connection with the Israeli company and do not even acknowledge its existence.

 

[brg]

According to ASR they have no connection with the Israeli company and do not even acknowledge its existence.

I was able to determine that the store-branded blades (Tesco, HEMA, Shaving Shack, Continente and Via Men, just to name a few) are made in Israel and distributed by Personna UK:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1905378&postcount=9

The back of the gray card (on the left) has the exact address of Personna UK:

http://www.personna-uk.co.uk/contactus.asp

That can be easily explained. The blades are indeed distributed by a company that is part of ASR Co. (Personna UK), and made in Israel. Which does not mean that the factory that makes the blades is owned entirely or even partially by Personna. It can just be a contractor that produces the blades distributed by Personna under these brand names.

EDIT: Found another post comparing the Crystals and the "Israeli Personnas". This could mean that these blades distributed by Personna are made at the same factory as the Crystals.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=157249

 

[sandmountainslim]

According to ASR they have no connection with the Israeli company and do not even acknowledge its existence.

According to Dark's Blade Supply which is the US distributer for Israeli Red Pack Personna....they definately WILL be affected if the Personna goes under.
Wp

 

[Swampfox]

I was able to determine that the store-branded blades (Tesco, HEMA, Shaving Shack, Continente and Via Men, just to name a few) are made in Israel and distributed by Personna UK:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1905378&postcount=9

The back of the gray card (on the left) has the exact address of Personna UK:

http://www.personna-uk.co.uk/contactus.asp

That can be easily explained. The blades are indeed distributed by a company that is part of ASR Co. (Personna UK), and made in Israel. Which does not mean that the factory that makes the blades is owned entirely or even partially by Personna. It can just be a contractor that produces the blades distributed by Personna under these brand names.

EDIT: Found another post comparing the Crystals and the "Israeli Personnas". This could mean that these blades distributed by Personna are made at the same factory as the Crystals.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=157249

Thanks for the info.

According to Dark's Blade Supply which is the US distributer for Israeli Red Pack Personna....they definately WILL be affected if the Personna goes under.
Wp

There is entirely too much conflicting info out there about all of this.