Standard Textile President and CEO Gary Heiman attends a news conference announcing the purchase of King Mill. JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF

Parent company Standard Textile of Cincinnati, a maker of medical textile products, has purchased the equipment at the mill, located on the Augusta Canal.

The company will lease the real estate from the Augusta Canal Authority and plans to resume mass production of the mill's core product, hospital blankets, no later than June 11.

At least some of the 306 people who lost jobs after the plant's May 4 shutdown are expected to be rehired. But no guarantees were made at a 3 p.m. news conference at the Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building.

''We plan to hire several hundred associates,'' said Gary Heiman, Standard Textiles' president and chief executive officer. He said hiring at Standard Textile Augusta will be based on qualifications, not necessarily on past history at the mill.

Hiring for positions began at 3 p.m. at the Georgia Department of Labor downtown, simultaneous with the news conference.

Former employees were not given advance notice of the jobs because deal brokers feared legal challenges that would prevent the mill's acquisition. At least one lawsuit has been filed to recoup lost employee benefits.

The Augusta Canal Authority purchased King Mill for $200,000 late Wednesday evening through a court-appointed receiver after a closed-door meeting of the authority's board. The transaction was entered into Richmond County Superior Court records Thursday morning.

Standard Textile - which made clear it didn't want to acquire the real estate as part of the deal - purchased all other King Mill assets under receivership. The company also gave the canal authority a $200,000 advance on its lease agreement.

King Mill's former owner, Spartan International of Spartanburg, S.C., had a revolving credit relationship with General Electric Capital Corp. The creditor attributed continued underperformance to its decision to cut off Spartan. Unable to pay its workers, Spartan shut down its six mills - including King - May 4. Spartan still exists as an entity on paper.

Mr. Heiman said his company was in talks to purchase King Mill from financially troubled Spartan prior to the mill's closing. When the closing actually happened, he said, ''We were as shocked as anybody else.''

He said Standard Textile is not interested in other Spartan assets because they don't ''dovetail'' well with what the company produces.

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In addition to blankets and bedspreads, Standard Textile makes surgical products and medical staff and patient apparel. Local production won't become that diversified, however. Standard aims instead to increase efficiency on existing lines.

Mr. Heiman classified staging the deal as ''difficult, strenuous and laborious.'' Standard Textile spokesman Ed Frankel said the negotiations were secretive and urgent to ''prevent legal action that could have been taken that might have interfered.''

Jack Long, an attorney with Dye Tucker Everitt Long Brewton & Lanier, said Thursday he filed a lawsuit that afternoon against Spartan International - not creditor GE, as stated in The Augusta Chronicle's online report. His firm is petitioning the courts on behalf of former employees to have an involuntary bankruptcy declared.

The lawsuit's goal is to give employees preference on proceeds from mill liquidations. The displaced employees were not extended their health benefits for 60 days after the closing, as is required by federal law, Mr. Long said.

''It's an emergency motion,'' Mr. Long said. '' We want the court to appoint a trustee and order medical insurance be continued on all the employees.''

Standard Textile enters with no lingering obligations and did not disclose specifics of pay or benefits. Mr. Heiman said incentives will be given to employees based on productivity. The plant eventually will operate 24 hours, seven days a week.

Mr. Heiman said it's standard procedure to lease, rather than own, production facilities. He said that fact shouldn't mislead anyone as to the company's intentions.

''We have every intention and every desire of making this a long-term relationship,'' he said. ''We have no intent of pulling out.''

Reach Eric Williamson at (706) 828-3904.