Western Nonwovens, Inc. (WNI, Carson, California) filing under Chapter 11 has agreed to sell most of its assets to SBC Manufacturing Co. LLC. The sale includes WNI's plants in Orlando, Florida and in Sauget, Illinois and an option to purchase the Carson plant in California. The company has reached an agreement with its lender to provide debtor-in-possession financing, subject to Bankruptcy Court approval, to fund the company's immediate business operations while it completes the sale process to SBC, which is subject to the approval of the Bankruptcy Court as well.

WNI is the world's 21st largest nonwoven maker, with sales of $145 million in 2006. It sells nonwovens for various applications such as mattresses, automobiles, filters and furniture.

The company eventually had to file a petition for bankruptcy in spite of its long-time efforts at management reconstruction measures, promoting restructuring. After the spin-off of its nylon spunbond Cerex business in March 2007, WNI was sold to Cerberus Capital and GE Capital, and its Oakland plant in California was shut down in December and after the Commerce plant in California was sold to Southern Fiber Inc. in February 2008, the Paltex plant in Louisiana, the Clearfield plant in Utah and the Saint Louis plant in Michigan were successively shut down.