Wisconsin Steel Industries Inc., a Milwaukee-based heating treating business that exited federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, has again entered a court ordered receivership.
However, this time, the company is in receivership as a result of the ongoing divorce between company owner and president Ted Dolhun and Christine Dolhun, not because of financial difficulty.
Waukesha County Judge Patrick Reilly has ordered the company to be run by a court-appointed receiver to protect the financial interests of both Ted and Christine Dolhun.
“(The receivership status) is not because of a credit problem or solvency,” said Seth Dizard, an attorney with O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong S.C. and the court-appointed receiver in the case. “I am the receiver of the shares of stock of the company and am holding it for the benefit of the owners who are going through a divorce. It is open for business, and we’re taking sales as they come in. I am operating a healthy company at this time.”
The judge’s decision has essentially meant that Ted Dolhun, who inherited Wisconsin Steel Industries from his father in 1972, no longer owns the company. Dolhun has been retained as the company’s president by Dizard and Laxson Boyd, a consultant with Wadsworth Whitestar Consultants in Wauwatosa. Dizard has retained Boyd to oversee operations at Wisconsin Steel Industries.
Currently, Dolhun is overseeing most day-to-day operations at the company.
“Although he remains president of Wisconsin Steel Industries, Dolhun is unsure of his future with the company.
“I’m hoping to stay on as the president as a job,” he said. “I don’t know what my employment situation is. It’s day-to-day right now.”
Dolhun has told his employees about the situation and his uncertain status.
“I tell them everything – everyone knows everything about me,” Dolhun said. “They know I lost the company and that as far as I’m concerned, I’ll never own this company again.”
Wisconsin Steel Industries is not for sale now, Dizard said. Because of the state of the economy, the company would not sell for a satisfactory price, he said.
“I am not being forced to sell a company in distress,” Dizard said. “If I will sell it, it will be when it is economically feasible to do so. If that means running it through the recession until a time when we can sell it for a high price, we will do so. I am not interested in selling it at all now. This company is not distressed. This is about the shareholders, not creditors.”
