Group urges Chinese to bid on Simmons
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, January 4, 2010
ATLANTA — A group of financiers is trying to encourage Chinese bidders to top the already arranged deal for bedding giant Simmons, news outlets reported last week.
A Simmons official discounted the move.
“In response to recent rumors … Simmons wants to reiterate that it is not contemplating any alternate bids in China or elsewhere nor has Simmons authorized any agent in China to solicit any such bids,” Bill Creekmuir, the company's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a written response.
Simmons filed for Chapter 11 in November and said it had agreed to be sold after its emergence from bankruptcy proceedings to affiliates of the owners of fellow bedding manufacturer Serta — Ares Capital and the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund. Creekmuir said the company expects that transaction to be completed in mid to late January, pending approval by the bankruptcy court.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that details of the pre-packaged bankruptcy plan were translated into Chinese and posted on the Web site of a government-owned registry, called Guangzhou Enterprises Merges and Acquisitions Services. The newspaper said the idea was to encourage potential Chinese bidders to offer Simmons creditors a better deal, which could generate fees for an agent if it were to proceed.
The China Daily quoted Duan Li, identified as the head of the Simmons project at the Guangzhou registry, as saying that two Chinese furniture producers from Guangdong province and a bedding company from Shanghai may bid for the Simmons assets. But he declined to name the firms.
Simmons is now owned by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Featured Company
-
Wright Labels
Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
