L&P top Sleepmaster creditor
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, December 2, 2001
LINDEN, N.J. — More than two dozen suppliers of mattress components are owed about $33.5 million by Sleepmaster, the Serta licensee that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
In a series of filings with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Sleepmaster said that component suppliers make up the bulk of its unsecured creditors. The company operates 10 plants and is Serta's largest licensee.
Components giant Leggett & Platt, the mattress industry's largest supplier of innersprings, is the largest unsecured creditor, owed $20.5 million by Sleepmaster and its various subsidiaries. Two Leggett & Platt-owned companies also are creditors, with fabric converter Hanes Converting owed $707,171 and machinery manufacturer Gribitz owed $85,830.
The second-largest unsecured creditor is foam producer Carpenter at $5.4 million. Another foam supplier, Flexible Foam, is owed about $1.9 million, while a pair of mattress ticking suppliers, Blumenthal and Culp, are owed $1.4 million and $1.05 million, respectively.
In addition to Hanes Converting, five other suppliers are owed more than $200,000, and three are owed between $100,000 and $200,000.
Among the other suppliers on the list is Burlington, a major ticking producer that filed for Chapter 11 protection itself one day before Sleepmaster. According to court documents, Burlington is owed $348,812.
The bankruptcy court gave Sleepmaster preliminary approval for a debtor-in-possession financing package of $151 million from a group of banks led by North Carolina-based First Union. The court said Sleepmaster could borrow up to $7 million immediately to fund its day-to-day operations. A final hearing on the financing package is set for Dec. 18.
Sleepmaster, which has acquired six other Serta licensees in the past three years, filed for bankruptcy protection the day after it failed to make an $8 million interest payment to bondholders. The bedding producer said it is unable to generate enough cash to make some $30 million in annual interest payments on the money it borrowed to finance the acquisitions.
According to court documents, Sleepmaster had sales of $360 million last year and is projecting sales of $348 million this year.
Court records show the company has assets of $433 million. Total debt was listed at $363.9 million.
| Sleepmaster's largest creditors | |
|---|---|
| Leggett & Platt | $20,491,657 |
| Carpenter | $5,439,429 |
| Flexible Foam | $1,865,460 |
| Blumenthal | $1,401,703 |
| Culp | $1,045,449 |
| Hanes Converting | $707,171 |
| Capitol Foam | $407,807 |
| Burlington | $348,812 |
| Bekaert Textiles | $225,250 |
| Hendrix Batting | $223,449 |
| CT Nassau | $212,440 |
| Florida Nonwovens | $183,789 |
| Deslee Textiles | $142,962 |
| Mid-America Fiber | $104,128 |
| Source: U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Wilmington, Del. | |
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