Fontarome Chemical, a Milwaukee-area pharmaceutical ingredients supplier, has filed for receivership, according to online court records.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the news. In such cases, a state court appoints a receiver to oversee a business’s financial operations and potentially liquidate assets or sell the business to pay creditors.
The cause of Fontarome’s financial struggles is unclear, and the company declined to comment Friday on the court proceedings.
Fontarome previously said it was recovering nicely from the recession, as I reported for the Milwaukee Business Journal. Its owner and president, Carl Sheeley, told me in late 2012 that Fontarome had grown its local staff to 40—lower than peak pre-recession levels, but still better than during the worst of the downturn.
Fontarome is a custom manufacturer and international supplier of ingredients for the pharmaceutical, flavors, and fragrances industries. Its products include active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company was founded in 1978 in France and in 1984 opened its local manufacturing facility in St. Francis, just outside Milwaukee.
Sheeley, a former Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) engineer, joined Fontarome in 1991 as manager of its St. Francis plant. In 2004, he bought Fontarome from its French parent company, Servier, which was considering consolidating operations.
Fontarome is based in St. Francis with a sales office and warehouse in Paris, France.
