Furniture Brands "First Day" Motions Approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court
September 12 2013 - 12:57PM
Company to Continue to Meet Its Financial
Obligations with Approval of $140 Million Debtor-in-Possession
Financing
Business Operations to Proceed
Uninterrupted
Furniture Brands International ("Furniture Brands" or "the
Company") today announced that the "First Day" motions filed on
September 9, 2013 relating to the Company's voluntary Chapter 11
restructuring process were approved yesterday by the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the Honorable Judge
Christopher S. Sontchi presiding.
Among other considerations, the approved First Day Motions allow
Furniture Brands to access the $140 million debtor-in-possession
("DIP") including immediate access of $25 million of new liquidity
provided by Oaktree Capital Management L.P. ("Oaktree") allowing
Furniture Brands to operate business uninterrupted and continue to
meet its post-petition financial obligations, including the payment
of employee wages and benefits, timely payment of supplier
invoices, continued servicing of customer orders and shipments, and
other obligations.
An October 2, 2013 hearing is scheduled for final approval of
certain other motions.
"As a result of this approval, Furniture Brands will be able to
continue its day-to-day operations without interruption and can
begin to implement the restructuring initiatives necessary under
the Chapter 11 process," said Ralph Scozzafava, Chairman of the
Board and CEO of Furniture Brands. "We are highly confident that as
a result of these actions we will emerge as an even stronger
company."
Miller Buckfire and Company, LLC is acting as investment banker
for the Company; Alvarez and Marsal North America, LLC is acting as
restructuring advisor and Paul Hastings LLP is the Company's legal
counsel.
Furniture Brands and certain of its affiliates commenced cases
to reorganize under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on
September 9, 2013. The chapter 11 cases are being jointly
administered under case number 13-12329. Additional information
about the restructuring is available at the Company's website
www.furniturebrands.com. For access to Court documents and other
general information about the Chapter 11 cases, please visit:
http://dm.epiq11.com/FBN
About Furniture Brands
Furniture Brands International (OTC:FBNI) is a world leader in
designing, manufacturing, sourcing and retailing home furnishings.
Furniture Brands markets products through a wide range of channels,
including company owned Thomasville retail stores and through
interior designers, multi-line/independent retailers and mass
merchant stores. Furniture Brands serves its customers through some
of the best known and most respected brands in the furniture
industry, including Thomasville, Broyhill, Lane, Drexel Heritage,
Henredon, Pearson, Hickory Chair, Lane Venture, Maitland-Smith and
LaBarge. To learn more about the company, visit
www.furniturebrands.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Matters discussed in this document and in our public
disclosures, whether written or oral, relating to future events or
our future performance, including any discussion, express or
implied, of our anticipated growth, operating results, future
earnings per share, or plans and objectives, contain
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. These statements are often identified by the words
"will," "believe," "positioned, " "estimate," "project," "target,"
"continue," "intend," "expect," "future," "anticipates," and
similar expressions that are not statements of historical fact.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and
involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are
difficult to predict. Our actual results and timing of certain
events could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors,
including, but not limited to, those set forth under "Risk Factors"
in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29,
2012, and in our other subsequent public filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors include, but are
not limited to: failure to identify and successfully implement
strategic initiatives; changes in economic conditions; loss of
market share due to competition; changes in our pension funding
obligations; failure to forecast demand or anticipate or respond to
changes in consumer tastes and fashion trends; failure to achieve
projected mix of product sales; business failures of large
customers; distribution realignments; inventory write-downs; sales
distribution and manufacturing realignments; continued operating
losses; loss of or reduction in trade credit; ability to service or
refinance our debt; restrictions in our credit facilities;
increased reliance on offshore sourcing of various products;
fluctuations in the cost, availability and quality of raw
materials; product liability uncertainty; environmental
regulations; future acquisitions or dispositions; possible
delisting of our common stock; loss of key personnel; impairment of
intangible assets; anti-takeover provisions which could result in a
decreased valuation of our common stock; our inability to secure
additional financing to meet our operating and capital needs; our
ability to open and operate new retail stores successfully;
disruptions of our IT systems; failure to maintain and upgrade our
IT systems; and fluctuations in our common stock. It is routine for
internal projections and expectations to change as the year or each
quarter in the year progresses, and therefore it should be clearly
understood that all forward-looking statements and the internal
projections and beliefs upon which we base our expectations
included in this report or other periodic reports are made only as
of the date made and may change. While we may elect to update
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we do not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
CONTACT: Furniture Brands International, Inc.
1 North Brentwood Blvd.
St. Louis, Missouri 63105
Investor contacts:
Rick Isaak
VP, Controller, Treasurer and Investor Relations
Furniture Brands
314-862-7117
OR
Anton Nicholas/Phil Denning, ICR, 203-682-8200