Private equity group acquires stake in Carls Patio

Will help fund national expansion campaign

Staff Staff -- Furniture Today, August 29, 2008

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. - A private equity group has acquired a stake in the Carls Patio business of Carls Furniture here in a move the parent company here says will help it survive the economic downturn and provide capital for expansion.

The size of the stake and the amount paid by Hinckley, Ohio-based Weinberg & Bell Group was not disclosed. Carls Furniture is "retaining an investment in Carls Patio and will continue to work closely with them in the future," the 25-store Top 100 company said in a news release.

With the deal, Carls Patio - with stores in Florida and Southern California - gets an investor "ready to invest additional capital into Carls Patio so it can go on a national expansion campaign," said Carls President Jeff Baker

Carls Furniture, meanwhile, get a boost in its own capitalization that will make it "better prepared to survive the current economic downturn and be around for the next 63 years."

For the first time in its history, Carls has no bank debt and plenty of working capital, it said. That gives the company the capital "to expand or make acquisitions in Florida as they become available," Carls said.

The company noted that it has extended its leases on its North Palm Beach and Stuart, Fla., stores.

Carls, with 10 full-line and 13 patio stores at the close of 2007, posted a 10.1% decline in sales last year to $119.1. Carls Patio, led by President Gary Ecoff, has since opened stores in Naples, Fla., and Agoura Hills, Calif.

Weinberg & Bell describes itself on its Web site as an investor in "well-positioned middle market companies" with annual revenues from $15 million to $120 million. It has another industry investment in Advance Sleep Concepts, which makes bedding under the Englander brand.