Court OKs Wickes deal
Sale likely to keep existing management at Top 100 store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 3, 2002
WHEELING , Ill. — A private equity group plans to buy Top 100 company Wickes in a deal that should keep the retailer's management team involved in the operation.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. would pay about $75.6 million under the deal, including $31.5 million to refinance Wickes' debt and $9.1 million to assume leases, according to a letter filed in a California state court.
Last year, the court appointed a receiver over Master Home USA, parent of the 40-store Wickes and case goods producer Master Design — the two main subsidiaries of Master Home Furniture Co. Ltd. of Taiwan.
Master Home ran into financial troubles more than three years ago and filed a reorganization petition in Taiwan early last year. Several overseas bank creditors then forced Master Home USA into receivership, taking Master Home's stock in Wickes and Master Design as collateral for some $90 million in debt owed them, according to an attorney for the receiver.
In addition to the Wickes deal, the court has approved the purchase of Master Design by a Taiwanese conglomerate in a sale expected to close this week.
Chris Skinner, senior vice president of Barrington Associates of Los Angeles, the investment banking firm working with the receiver on both sales, would not confirm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill as the proposed Wickes buyer, but said "we have a letter of intent with a blue chip private equity group. We're proceeding with due diligence and expect to close within 90 days."
Skinner confirmed that Wickes management is involved in the deal and is likely to act in its "current capacity as an owner in this buyout." John Klein, the retailer's president and chief executive officer, did not return phone calls last week.
Furniture/Today estimates that Wickes generated $345 million in furniture bedding and accessories sales last year at its stores in greater Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Portland, Ore.
Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill also holds a stake in ready-to-assemble major O'Sullivan Inds., and has investments in a number of other companies, including restaurant chains McCormick & Schmick's and California Pizza Kitchen.
An employee at the firm referred calls to partner Bruce Bruckmann, saying he was handling the deal, but Bruckmann could not be reached for comment.
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