Levitz, Seaman owner likely to get Furniture.com assets
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, September 30, 2001
WORCESTER, Mass. — Eight months after rejecting a $1.5 million bid for the assets of failed e-retailer Furniture.com, a bankruptcy court here appears poised to accept $500,000 less, and from the same bidder.
Furniture Acquisition Corp., a holding company set up by Resurgence Asset Management, and Furniture.com's attorneys have reached an asset purchase agreement that puts a $1 million cash price tag on Furniture.com's URL, Internet platform and software licenses, among other assets.
If the court receives no objections to the sale, or offers of at least $1.1 million, on or before 4 p.m., Oct. 2, Furniture.com's assets will be sold "free and clear of all liens, claims and encumbrances," according to court documents.
With any offers of at least $1.1 million, the court is requiring a 10% cash deposit, or $110,000.
A hearing on the sale motion is tentatively scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, but if no offers or objections are received, the court may cancel the hearing and approve the sale, according to the presiding judge, Henry Boroff.
Resurgence Asset Management is the chief stakeholder in retailers Levitz and Seaman Furniture.
Steven Audi, a vice president with Resurgence, would not comment on what his company intends to do with the assets, referring all questions to the public court documents and their contents.
Furniture Acquisition's bid of $1.5 million was denied in January to allow Furniture.com to seek higher bids.
Paul Carey, an attorney with the creditors' committee, said the problem in January was a provision in the bid for a "breakup fee" of up to $75,000, payable to Furniture Acquisition, if a subsequent offer topped its bid.
Court documents mention no such breakup fee this time.
It is unlikely any unsecured creditors, which include furniture makers Huppe and Crawford, among others, will see any of the $1 million payout.
Furniture.com's largest secured creditor, Comdisco, itself in financial difficulties, is owed $1 million. In addition, the court has reserved the right to use a part of the payment to pay off employees and pay other fees and charges.
Furniture.com filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2000, listing $9 million in liabilities and $2.2 million in assets.
The company was founded here in 1998 by Steven M. Rothschild and Misha Katz as an outgrowth of a service they created for Empire Furniture called FurnitureSite.com.
As first reported in eDaily
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