From: ASAP
Federated Department Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FD) (PCX:FD) and Business Development Group Acquisitions, Inc. (BDGA) today jointly announced the termination of negotiations for the sale of Federated's Fingerhut subsidiary to BDGA. The parties said a combination of factors, including a difficult economic environment for acquisition financing, led to a decision not to proceed.
"Both parties have worked intensely and tirelessly over the past three months in an attempt to successfully conclude this very complicated transaction, but because of a number of external factors, including regulatory and rating agency issues impacting the structure of a potential deal, we unfortunately have had to mutually agree that it just isn't going to happen," said Federated Vice Chairman Ron Tysoe. "Therefore, Federated is going to pursue the potential sale of individual Fingerhut assets to third parties, with an emphasis on preserving as many jobs as possible in that process. We also will be proceeding with the wind down of the Fingerhut catalog operation over the next 30 days."
Tysoe said that no other potential buyers interested in acquiring Fingerhut as a going concern have been identified since Federated's announcement in January that it intended to dispose of the Fingerhut operation. He added that Federated still expects to sell catalog subsidiaries Arizona Mail Order, Figi's and Popular Club as going concerns.
The company reiterated its earlier expectations that the disposition and monetization of Fingerhut's assets will generate approximately $1.1 to $1.3 billion of after-tax cash proceeds (net of one-time costs) over the next four years.
Federated, with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation's leading department store retailers, with annual sales from continuing operations of more than $15.5 billion. Federated currently operates more than 460 stores in 34 states, Guam and Puerto Rico, under the names of Macy's, Bloomingdale's, The Bon Marche, Burdines, Goldsmith's, Lazarus and Rich's, as well as macys.com and Bloomingdale's By Mail.
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