Investment banker wins Robb & Stucky intellectual assets

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 26, 2011

TAMPA, Fla. — Tim Stump, a Charlotte, N.C., investment banker and well-known figure in the furniture industry, is behind the winning bid for the intellectual assets of the fallen Robb & Stucky.

David Peress, a principal with Needham, Mass-based Streambank, the agent hired to market the retailer's intellectual assets, confirmed that Stump is the investment banker for buyer Robb & Stucky International, with a $470,000 winning bid at the May 25 auction. The move appears to end a bid by former Robb & Stucky CEO Clive Lubner and son Dan Lubner to possibly rebuild the business under the same name.

Stump is president of Stump & Co. in Charlotte, an investment banker specializing "in selling privately-held furniture companies and related businesses throughout the world," according to the company's website, Stump.net. He declined to comment for this story on the buyer's plans for the intellectual property.

According to a document filed with Florida's Division of Corporations, Robb & Stucky International was incorporated May 17 and has its principal office in Greensboro, N.C. The record did not name officers.

Dan Lubner, former president of the high-end retailer's hospitality division, who earlier confirmed that he and his father were behind the $125,000 initial stalking horse bid for the assets by Lubner Family Partnership, couldn't be reached immediately for comment.

After 96 years in business, Fort Myers, Fla.-based Robb & Stucky filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 18, and subsequently moved to liquidate all stores after a failed bid to purchases the assets out of bankruptcy for a scaled-down going concern.

The upscale, Top 100 retailer operated stores in Florida, Dallas, Las Vegas and Scottsdale, Ariz.

According to the court documents, there were four bidders and 25 subsequent bids on the intellectual property during the auction, with Robb & Stucky International's $470,000 bid topping the Lubners' final $460,000 offer. Streambank is expecting management and commission fees and expenses totaling about $105,600 for its role marketing the property. The intellectual assets include trademarks for Robb & Stucky and Robb & Stucky Interiors, Web URLs and customer data including names and addresses of some 480,000 customers.