Schultze Wins Bid For Tweeter
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 7/13/2007
Purchase, N.Y. – Schultze Asset Management, an investment firm specializing in distressed situations, placed the winning $38 million cash bid to acquire all of the assets of Tweeter Home Entertainment Group.
Tweeter is seeking court approval for the transaction this morning at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. If approved, the sale of the specialty A/V will likely close later today.
Tweeter said it will continue normal operations pending completion of the acquisition.
“Both Tweeter and Schultze are very excited about this pending acquisition and are committed to emerging from this restructuring process as a stronger, more competitive organization focused on delivering an outstanding service experience to our customers,” said Tweeter president/CEO Joe McGuire. “The conclusion of this auction represents a very positive outcome for our employees, customers and business partners. We look forward to completing the sale transaction.”
Tweeter said that Schultze's "going concern" bid was determined to be the highest or otherwise best offer in the Bankruptcy Court-supervised sale of its assets. The retailer reported last month that Schultze would also assume $8 million of Tweeter's “cure costs” associated with the company’s bankruptcy proceeding, as well as provide the chain with a $10 million junior debtor-in-possession line of credit. Tweeter intends to use the $10 million in new funding to purchase merchandise and for other general corporate purposes.
Schultze’s bid included the purchase of Tweeter’s 18.75 percent interest in Tivoli Audio.Founded in 1998, Purchase, N.Y.-based Schultze Asset Management is an alternative investments firm specializing in distressed and special situations investing. The firm manages approximately $725 million in assets on behalf of institutional and high net worth clients located throughout the world.
Other confirmed bidders included Whippoorwill Associates and Bay Harbour Management, which had teamed up to make a $10 million offer for Tweeter’s Tivoli holdings.
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I wish I could say we never saw this coming, but unfortunately I did back when Jeff Stone was running the show. I to was a manager for both Hifi Buys and Tweeter and thank goodness I had the sense to bolt early. I just wanted to say sorry to all the employees of a once great CE company who put alot of time and effort into making Tweeter what it formerly was. The men and women of that company deserved better.
Julian Connor - 2007-14-7 00:32:00 EDT -
Totally agree with the previous comment! I was a store manager for them until 3-1/2 yrs ago, when you could see the company already beginning to mimic Enron in the way they''d play with the accounting so they wouldn''t have to pay bonuses to their managers that rightfully had earned them. The execs were never looking to grow the company these last 5 yrs, they were only looking to make as much green for themselves as possible, & if they had to screw their employees to do so, OH WELL!! I hope the government investigates what went on here, because what went on here certainly wasn''t kosher.
Bruce Lawrence - 2007-13-7 20:11:00 EDT -
I wonder if the Top 5 Exec''s are going to get the bonus they asked for. Forbes reported that $350,000.00 was asked to be set aside as a bonus for 5 Exec''s as long as the sale of the company was above 35 Million. What a bunch of asses. These money hungry Exec''s claim that "...they put in all this extra time to help the company bankruptcy go smoothly". What about all the people Tweeter screwed over? Closing stores without a 2 week notice. All the vacation pay and severance pay promised to those who stayed aboard to help close the stores down. Its a shame that Sandy Bloomberg, Company Founder, allowed such things to happen. I know its corporate America, but that doesn’t mean you have to lie to your employees that put in over 50 hours a week to try to make the company work. Business ethics 101. So to the TOP Exec''s that want a bonus on top of their overpaid base Salary.....why don''t you ask for the money to pay off the employees that made you a success, instead of lining your own pockets even more. Gluttonous Corporate Swine.
Tweeter Fan - 2007-13-7 11:47:00 EDT
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