HARTLAND – An eleventh-hour agreement between the bankrupt Irving Tanning Co. of Hartland and Meriturn Partners, a private investment company of North Carolina and San Francisco, appears to have saved more than 250 area jobs.

Principals for Irving and Meriturn, which specializes in turning around troubled businesses, signed a letter of intent Monday.

Irving had filed bankruptcy in March when its mortgagee, TD BankNorth, abruptly pulled its credit line, which the company had been using since 2002.

“Absent the agreement, cessation of operations [at the tannery was] imminent,” Irving Tanning’s attorney, Michael Fagone, said Tuesday afternoon.

“This agreement is the product of weeks and weeks of negotiations between Irving, Meriturn and BankNorth,” Fagone said.

In mid-May, Meriturn offered $5.75 million in cash plus the assumption of up to $500,000 in employee-related liabilities. Under the terms of the original Meriturn deal, top-level management changes were expected, but not reductions in Irving’s operations or its 250-person staff, according to Fagone.

However, TD BankNorth had been contemplating a competing offer to liquidate the company and sell it off piecemeal. Irving owes BankNorth $11.5 million. It also owes $1 million to Tyson Fresh Meats and has $750,000 of bonded debt to the town of Hartland.

There are specific conditions to the impending sale that must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in particular conditions that will protect Meriturn’s investment. Fagone said that a hearing on the sale will be held at 1 p.m. today in Bangor.