Heritage Home Group LLC, formed to purchase most assets of the defunct

Furniture Brands International Furniture Brands International, Inc., was a Clayton, Missouri-based home furnishings company. Some of the brands it owned in the furniture industry included Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Laneventu ...

, was a

High Point, North Carolina High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph, Davidson, and Forsyth counties. High Point is North Carolina's only city tha ...

-based home furnishings company. It owned the brands Broyhill,

Lane In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...

, Thomasville, and Drexel Heritage.

History

On September 9, 2013,

filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

. The company planned to sell all businesses other than Lane Furniture to a group managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP. On October 2, a judge approved a $280 million

stalking horse offer A stalking horse offer, agreement, or bid is a bid for a bankrupt firm or its assets that is arranged in advance of an auction to act as an effective reserve bid. The intent is to maximize the value of its assets or avoid low bids, as part of (or be ...

KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...

. On November 4, Samson Holding Ltd., the largest stockholder, announced its intention to bid but that bid never took place, and on November 22, a judge approved the KPS bid. KPS announced the name Heritage Home Group LLC for the new owner of "substantially all of the assets" of Furniture Brands on November 25. Also announced at that time was the resignation of Furniture Brands chairman and CEO Ralph Scozzafava. Ira Glazer became Heritage president and CEO. On January 21, 2014, Heritage announced the closing of Thomasville Furniture's operations in

Thomasville, North Carolina Thomasville is a city in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 27,183 at the 2020 census. The city was once notable for its furniture industry, as were its neighbors High Point and Lexington. This Piedmont Triad commu ...

, as of March 21, with 84 jobs cut. A

Saltillo, Mississippi Saltillo is a city in Lee County, Mississippi, located in the northern part of the Tupelo micropolitan area. The population was 4,922 at the 2020 Census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , ...

plant making Lane Furniture would close at the same time, meaning 480 jobs lost, though other plants in the

Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo () is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North ...

area would remain open, despite earlier plans to close all the plants. In March 2014 Heritage said the Pearson Company plant in High Point, started by the Pearson family in 1942, was closing by August, affecting 86 employees. Late in April 2014, Heritage announced it would close its Clayton headquarters June 25. The most likely location for the new headquarters was

. The company also said the

Ballwin, Missouri Ballwin is a southwestern suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 31,103 as of the 2020 census. History Ballwin was established in 1837. The community was named for John Ball, who settled a ...

office would close by the end of 2014. In June 2014 it was reported that the last Drexel Heritage plant, on Hogan Street in

Morganton, North Carolina Morganton is a city in and the county seat of Burke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 16,918 at the 2010 census. Morganton is approximately northwest of Charlotte. Morganton is one of the principal cities in the Hick ...

, was closing July 31, with 87 people losing their jobs. The company was started by the Huffman and Mull families, but in recent years, decisions to move manufacturing to other countries hurt the Morganton area. A bankruptcy filing on December 12, 2014 showed United Furniture Industries won the bidding for the 475,000-square-foot Lane Furniture plant in Tupelo. In April 2015, the company began $2.7 million in improvements on a 70,000-square-foot showroom built in the 1990s for Drexel-Heritage, and later used by Henredon, Maitland-Smith and La Barge, on Eastchester Drive in High Point. When finished, the headquarters was to be 100,000 square feet. In May, Richard Lozyniak became interim CEO after Glazer left the company. Heritage headquarters was temporarily located in Thomasville until work was completed on the former showrooms. On September 8, Heritage Home Group appointed Pierre de Villemejane as President and Chief Executive Officer after he served as CEO of WWRD Holdings Ltd. and Speedline Technologies Inc., also KPS companies. United Furniture Industries Inc. signed an agreement to buy Lane Company by the end of 2017. Heritage sold Lane Ventures to Bassett Furniture Industries for $15.1 million in December 2017. Heritage announced the formation of the three business units. Harvey Dondale would be president of Broyhill, a position he held from 2005 to 2007. Thomasville & Co., with Regan Iglesia as president, would include Thomasville, Drexel and Henredon. Henry Bowman would lead the luxury brands division, with Hickory Chair, Pearson, Maitland-Smith and Lane Venture. On July 29, 2018 HH Global II BV, which operated Heritage, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. HH Global said RHF Investments Inc., owner of Century, Hancock & Moore and Highland House, would buy its luxury brands division. Heritage said it was planning to sell its Thomasville & Co. and Broyhill divisions to one buyer. HH Global agreed to sell its luxury brands division, including Hickory Chair, Maitland-Smith, La Barge and Pearson, to RHF Investments Inc., owner of Century, Hancock & Moore and Highland House. The high bid for Thomasville & Co. was $38.5 million from HHG IPCo. LLC, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between SB360 Capital Partners and

Authentic Brands Group Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) is an American brand management company headquartered in New York City. Its holdings include various apparel, athletics, and entertainment brands, for which it partners with other companies to license and merchand ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, known for buying businesses in trouble but also for

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

. After court approval of the sale, trademark documents show

Big Lots Big Lots Stores, Inc. (stylized as Big Lots!) is an American retail company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with over 1,400 stores in 47 states. History The Big Lots chain traces its history back to 1967 when Consolidated Stores Corporation ...

took over rights to Broyhill marks November 9, 2018. In December 2018 a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge approved two sales of buildings. Medical Realty Advisors LLC bought the Heritage Home Group headquarters for $4 million, and Hamilton Square LLC bought a building and land in

Lenoir, North Carolina Lenoir is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,263 at the 2020 census. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the northeast are the Brushy Mountains, ...

for $175,000. On March 5, 2019, the $4 million sale of the headquarters/showroom building to Eastchester Storage LLC was completed, and the building will be used for storage.

References

External links

{{Official website, http://www.heritagehome.com/ Furniture retailers of the United States 2013 establishments in Missouri American companies established in 2013 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018