Alan Drey Co. Inc. closed its doors last Friday after 52 years in the mailing list brokerage business. It had suffered a severe decline in revenue and continued operating losses, president Pat Patten said.
The firm employed about 26 employees and only a few remain on board at the company’s Chicago headquarters to wind down operations.
“We still have a small staff for the purposes of liquidation to lessen the negative impact on creditors and our clients,” Patten said.
The firm has executed a trust agreement and established an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, a process similar to liquidation Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, said Howard B. Samuels, of Rally Capital Service Inc. in Chicago, and a trustee of the Alan Drey Co. creditors trust.
The firm reported assets of $1.2 million and liabilities of $2.3 million.
According to a letter to creditors dated Aug. 23, Alan Drey Co. had attempted to reduce operating costs over a two-year period by cutting staff and salaries and reducing rent. But the current economic climate combined with numerous clients reducing marketing budgets forced the company to fold. An effort to enter the Internet marketing area resulted in further losses.
“Despite these efforts, Alan Drey was never able to return to the profitability it enjoyed in its earlier years,” the letter, signed by Samuels, said.
The company’s assets are expected to be liquidated and distributed to pay creditors.
Patten has been hired by list management and brokerage firm Statlistics, Danbury, CT, to work as a vice president in the firm’s Ventura, CA, office. He is expected to begin his position next week.
The firm also had offices in New York, Oakland, CA, and Los Angeles.
Alan Drey, who is retired and living if Florida, opened Alan Drey Co. in 1951 to offer mailing lists to mailers. The firm’s list management division closed years ago. Drey was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
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