Kelly-Moore Paints Co. plans to shut down -- a decision the company blamed on massive liabilities related to asbestos litigation. The Irving, Texas-based company will close all its stores nationwide. The company's website lists at least 15 locations in the greater Sacramento area. Some local closures might already be underway. The Kelly-Moore store in El Dorado Hills displayed a sign on Saturday saying the "company closed down" and thanking customers for their patronage. Other area stores could not be reached by the Sacramento Business Journal on Saturday. Founded in 1946 in San Carlos, California, Kelly-Moore operates 157 stores across Texas, California, Nevada and Oklahoma and more than 120 dealer outlets. The decision to cease operations came just a few days after Kelly-Moore announced Jan. 8 it would temporarily stop operations at its manufacturing plant and seek new investors to help turn the company around. The paint maker and retailer said the same day it had furloughed roughly 700 employees companywide. Now, the company plans to "commence an orderly, out-of-court wind-down," according to the latest announcement. Kelly-Moore will also permanently close its large paint factory in Hurst, Texas, northeast of Fort Worth, according to a Jan. 12 announcement. Representatives for Kelly-Moore have not responded to recent requests for comment. During the wind-down process, the company will try to fulfill previously placed customer orders "to the extent possible" from existing inventory in Kelly-Moore's Union City, California, distribution facility. Kelly-Moore employees will be fully paid for regular time worked and management will continue to try to collect receivables to pay all accrued benefits including paid time off, the company said. As of Jan. 8, the company had multiple interested investors with which it was trying to strike a deal. "Since then, the Company has continued actively seeking new capital to enable a turnaround, with assistance from financial advisor Houlihan Lokey," the Jan. 12 announcement stated. "Unfortunately, none of the interested investors has stepped forward with a Letter of Intent, and the Company has not secured the additional funding needed to continue operations." CEO Charles Gassenheimer said he was "extremely disappointed and saddened" by the outcome and the impact it will have on employees, painting contractors and other customers. "The ownership group's commitment from day one was to fix the business if we could," he said in a statement. "Sadly, no matter how great the Kelly-Moore team, products and reputation for service, we simply couldn't overcome the massive legal and financial burdens that have been weighing on the Company for many years." For more than 30 years, the company has been involved in lawsuits related to its past use of asbestos in cement and texture products, a practice discontinued in 1981. "Largely due to the asbestos litigation overhang, it was impossible to attract any additional funding or interest to recapitalize, restructure, or reorganize the business," the announcement stated. The cumulative cash drain of legal settlements and the cost of defending ever-mounting cases crushed the company's ability to reinvest in its business, according to Kelly-Moore. Severe supply chain problems that were worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic also took a heavy toll. The company paid out roughly $600 million during the past 20 years to settle asbestos claims, but a recent study commissioned by the company estimated future asbestos liabilities exceeded $170 million, according to Kelly-Moore. The company's new owners also inherited other issues, such as millions of dollars of previously unpaid sales and use taxes, according to Kelly-Moore. Miami-based investment firm Flacks Group acquired the paint company in late 2022. Branded as "The Painter's Paint Store," the company sold 90% of its products to professional paint contractors and other trade professionals, according to a December 2022 news release. Kelly-Moore Paints had more than 1,200 employees and roughly $400 million in annual revenue at the time. Gassenheimer, a turnaround specialist and managing director at Flacks Group, said at the time of the acquisition that his aim was to increase annual revenue to more than $800 million.