FORT KENT – An investment from a “white knight” of at least $2 million that could be matched by banks is needed to keep open children’s sleepwear manufacturer Kent Inc. here. If that doesn’t come soon, 185 people will be out of a job by mid-November, and this small town will lose a $2.5 million payroll.

Kent Inc. announced late Tuesday it would shut down its factory in Fort Kent, plus offices in New York City and South Carolina, in about two months if a financial bailout is not put together quickly.

“The key is a white knight,” said Michael Gans, president of Kent Inc., on Wednesday. “The business can survive if we can get the financing.”

It’s the second time Fort Kent and the workers have had to face a plant closure, and this time salvation is possible but doubtful, according to officials familiar with the company’s history. More than six years ago, former owner Gerber Childrenswear closed the facility and its current owners secured financing and reopened it six months later.

Kent Inc., which has received millions of dollars in state money and other loans over the years, is facing pressure from borrowers to bring down some of its loan amounts.

“We have run out of track, and loaners want us to bring down the numbers,” Gans said.

After receiving millions of dollars in state money over the years, Kent Inc. owners will be meeting with representatives from town, state and federal agencies – including those that lent the money – on Friday morning in Fort Kent to review all the scenarios that could affect the plant’s future.

At the meeting will be representatives from Fort Kent’s town office, the Department of Economic and Community Development, the Department of Labor, the Finance Authority of Maine, the Small Business Administration, and the offices of Maine’s two U.S. senators.

“I think the key is to put together a financing package to see if we can keep the plant open,” said David Lackey, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office.

Fort Kent Town Manager Donald Guimond said Kent Inc. officials have asked the town for help in securing money to keep the company open because the jobs are vital to the town’s stability.

“The jobs amount to between 4 and 5 percent of our labor market, and this jeopardizes other jobs in the area,” Guimond said.

Gans said he has a plan to keep the business open, and pending orders from numerous companies for children’s sleepwear, particularly blanket sleepers, demonstrate that the facility has value. Kent Inc. has annual sales of $12 million.

But the plan requires someone with faith in the company to invest $2 million. The plant produces blanket sleepers throughout the year, but only sells them between September and December. Buyers pay their bills after they receive the merchandise, Gans said.

“We’re shaking every money tree that we know how to shake,” said Gans, noting that he and his partners are willing to give up their stakes in the business but help run it if asked. “Right now, I’ve run out of money.”

Under the plan, Kent Inc. would stop producing “sleep and play” childrenswear but continue outputting blanket sleepers, which are one-piece zip-up fleece pajamas that should keep children warm at night if the kids kick off their blankets while sleeping. If the plan is successful, the Fort Kent plant would employ up to 150 people, Gans said.

The blanket sleepers are sold under the HealthTex brand name in stores such as Kohl’s, Costco, T.J. Maxx, Wal-Mart, B.J.’s, and Burlington Coat Factory, he said.

Wal-Mart alone annually purchases 700,000 packages containing a dozen sleepers each from Kent Inc. and manufacturers in China, Gans said. With almost 4 million babies born each year, the market for blanket sleepers is “recession proof,” he said, because “when you’re involved with babies, mothers will buy for their babies before they buy for themselves.”

But a flood of imports from overseas, such as China and countries in the Caribbean, have adversely affected Kent’s bottom line, Gans said. A federal decision in 1996 to drop the flame-retardancy standards on infant sleepwear up to size nine months opened the floodgates to foreign manufacturers who before then balked at the requirement.

Lackey said Gans told Snowe he “is having a problem with his own investors who see more profit if they move their production overseas.” The senator’s aide said Gans is determined to keep production in Maine if a financial plan is developed.

Steve Levesque, commissioner of the state’s economic development department, said he knows Kent Inc. “has a lot of orders,” but analysts have told him the company needs at least $4 million to stay open.

“The banking community is saying it can come up with $2 million to match” the equity investment, Levesque said.

He said “the big problem” is trying to find a company to invest $2 million because it, like Gans’ investors, will want some of the company’s production to be done overseas.

Levesque said that even though Kent is looking for an investor, it had to announce a closing date to comply with federal rules that require 60-days’ notice to employees and the state.

“And because that’s when the money runs out,” he said.

NEWS writer Beurmond Banville contributed to this report.