Judge approves sale of Pillowtex

News 14 Carolina ^ | 10-08-03 | Associated Press

[TaxRelief]

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Pillowtex Corp. on Tuesday won bankruptcy court approval of the $128 million sale of its assets to a group of liquidators.

Judge Peter J. Walsh at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington indicated he would approve the sale of Pillowtex's brands, plants and equipment to GGST LLC, a consortium that emerged as the winner of a 10-hour auction held in New York on Thursday.

GGST has said that it plans to sell Pillowtex's assets rather than operate them, leaving in question whether any of its 16 sheet and towel factories in North America will reopen and whether any of the 7,650 workers who lost their jobs will be rehired.Approval for the sale came in spite of questions about the sale's fairness from the second-place bidder, a joint venture made up of Petters Co. and PT Partners LLC.

Paul Traub, attorney for the Petters, cited a published report that said GGST brought Franco Manufacturing Co. to the auction table to bolster its chances, while the Petters joint venture was denied permission to pool its resources with Broome & Wellington, a U.K. textile maker that was a qualified bidder in the auction.

Mark Power, an attorney for the committee of Pillowtex's unsecured creditors, said Pillowtex blocked communications between potential competitors to keep the bidding on the rise. At the auction, various bidders asked permission to join forces in the bidding, but Pillowtex refused permission in order to keep the bidding competitive and the price rising.

Franco, a maker of licensed home textile products based in Metuchen, N.J., didn't bid independently, so its talks with GGST didn't violate bidding rules, said Michael Wiles, attorney for Pillowtex.

GGST started the bidding for the bulk of the operating assets in the "stalking horse," or lead bidder role, with an offer of $56 million in cash and an agreement to take over some liabilities.

The Petters Group joint venture stopped bidding at $127.5 million.

Pillowtex, of Kannapolis, N.C., filed for Chapter 11 protection July 30. It shut down its plants and fired most of its workers the same day. North Carolina lost 4,800 jobs, Virginia nearly 1,000.

The company sold more than $900 million in home goods last year, and listed assets of $548 million and debts of $475.9 million on its petition.

GGST is made up of Gibbs International, based in Spartanburg, S.C.; SB Capital Group, based in Long Island, N.Y.; Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLP in Boston; and Tiger Capital Group in Westlake Village, Calif.

[TaxRelief]

Petters joint venture was denied permission to pool its resources with Broome & Wellington, a U.K. textile maker that was a qualified bidder in the auction.

Keeping foreign investment out?

[Support Free Republic]

Is Someone Else Carrying Your Water?
	Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[razorback-bert]

Tiger Capital Group


Over thirty years ago, Sam Nassi purchased and disposed of the assets of White Front Stores. Although unaware of it at the time, he revolutionized the way companies would dispose of assets. This new business gained national recognition in 1975 when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court appointed Nassi to handle the asset disposition of 989 W.T. Grant Stores. Since that time, The Nassi Group has evolved into one of the most respected consumer inventory consultants in the country.

Consistent with its origins, The Nassi Group continues to specialize in the planning, promotion and management of asset dispositions. We also provide inventory appraisals in connection with extension of credit transactions.

[razorback-bert]

Gordon Brothers provides customized global financial and operating solutions for consumer product companies at times of growth or restructuring.
Over the past three years, Gordon Brothers has converted over $12 billion worth of inventory into cash for its clients, restructured or disposed of over 4 million square feet of retail spaces in over 4000 properties, managed over 5000 locations, and appraised over $50 billion of retail and wholesale inventory, real estate and fixed assets.


Vulture funds?

[razorback-bert]

Founded in 1972, Gibbs International, Inc. is a leader in the pre-owned textile machinery global market. Staffed by seasoned sales professionals with over 300 years combined experience in all facets of the textile industry. Gibbs expertise is sought by its customers to assist in locating and selecting the proper textile machines and accessories. This expertise is also sought by many companies and institutions in the appraisal and market valuations of machines and complete plants.

Conveniently located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Gibbs Industrial Park complex consists of the Corporate headquarters and several well-equipped warehouses. The Spartanburg location, combined with other offsite storage facilities, total over one million square feet of storage area. These locations house a variety of dismantled textile machinery, which is displayed for customers' inspection.

Gibbs International is committed to fully and completely serving the textile needs of its customers regardless of the location, size and availability of textile equipment. Gibbs' sustained growth since 1972 reflects the confidence that clients have in the company

[TaxRelief]

Where are you quoting from? Or did you write all that?

[razorback-bert]

I just googled the companies to see just what and who they are.

Tiger Capital Group helped a company, I use to work for through bankruptcy, 2000 people lost their employment, but the owners split $20 million. The company went into bankruptcy over a debt of $5 million.