ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - AFCO Industries in Alexandria has been acquired by Fulton Asset Management and Ashland Capital Partners.

Company president and CEO Don Fowler said the move secures AFCO’s future and opens the door for growth.

“I think we have a great future. I think we have a great opportunity ahead of us,” Fowler said.

AFCO had been employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan , or ESOP. That plan allowed workers to build wealth, but Fowler said it had become a financial challenge.

“As time has gone on, a 30-year mature ESOP had begun to suffer the pains of a mature ESOP, and that is that repurchase obligation began to be a pretty big nut to crack each year,” Fowler said.

The ESOP required AFCO to buy back stock when employees left. Over the past four years, the

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