By Scott Miller
SCBIZ Daily Staff

CHARLESTON -- The parent company of American LaFrance boosted its bid to buy bankrupt Protected Vehicles Inc. of North Charleston, and a judge approved the sale Thursday.

Patriarch Partners first bid $5 million but upped the offer at creditors’ request to $6 million after Ladson-based Force Protection Inc., a PVI competitor, put in a bid.

Force Protection did not press the issue and removed any objections it had in the sale.

Judge David R. Duncan approved Patriarch’s bid, which includes an additional $5 million in working capital to resurrect the bankrupt armored-vehicle maker.

“Dust to diamonds is our theory,” said Patriarch owner and CEO Lynn Tilton, mentioning the firm’s history of buying distraught companies. 

Titlton intends to rebuild PVI and said the North Charleston company may hire “a few hundred” people in the next six months, pending the ability to secure new military contracts.

“I began Patriarch to try to save companies and keep people employed,” Tilton said. “I hope that’s my legacy.”

The location of a rejuvenated PVI business remains unknown. Tilton may renegotiate the lease to remain at the former Navy base in North Charleston. Or, Patriarch has additional room for the PVI business at the American LaFrance plant in Summerville, she said.

Patriarch recently announced plans to move American LaFrance’s firetruck production from Summerville to existing facilities in Pennsylvania and New York. The move resulted in 35 layoffs and vacant space at the plant.

In August, American LaFrance and Navistar Inc. of Illinois announced a partnership to build vocational trucks in Summerville. Like PVI, Navistar also builds military vehicles.

“There’s a plan to fit the pieces together,” Tilton said of the three companies.