HAGGAR SAYS DEAL WITH BUYER IS OFF
NEW YORK — Eddie Haggar Limited said that its agreement in principle to be purchased by a “major women’s apparel manufacturer,” reportedly Donn-kenny Apparel Inc., has fallen apart.
Eddie Haggar, which is reorganizing under Chapter 11, said that with the end of the prospective deal, talks with other interested parties had kicked back into gear.
“We remain confident that a buyer or buyers will soon be found,” Gerald P. Buccino, of Buccino & Associates, the turnaround management company running Eddie Haggar, said in a telephone interview.
Dallas-based Eddie Haggar, a manufacturer of moderate-price women’s and junior’s sportswear, said investment banker Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, which is serving as its business broker, has already identified several firms “interested in acquiring some or all of the company’s assets and is reviewing preliminary offers and expressions of interest.”
While the announcement by Eddie Haggar did not identify Donnkenny as the company which had broken off talks, market sources said the New York firm was indeed the company.
Donnkenny had first expressed interest in buying Eddie Haggar in December, about a month before the Jan. 24 Chapter 11 filing, the sources added. When contacted about the aborted agreement, Richard Rubin, president of Donnkenny, declined, as in the past, to state whether his company was involved.
“It is very disappointing that the agreement in principle didn’t end up in the sale of the company,” Buccino said. “We had put a fair amount of effort into the deal.”
According to Buccino, the deal fell apart March 21 over several seemingly minor points, including the timing of the closing of the deal. “When we then tried to redo the deal, we couldn’t get together on price,” Buccino noted.
Buccino said Eddie Haggar is still filling spring orders and, operationally, proceeding with “business as usual.” — Fairchild News Service