Pangea Holdings Buys Newport News at Auction for $28.6M
Spiegel Group's dismantling continued this week as a $28.6 million bid by Pangea Holdings Ltd. was accepted for the Newport News women's apparel business. The bankrupt giant said it expected to close the deal by the end of May."We had an asset purchase agreement with Pangea Holdings Ltd. in April, subject to higher and better offers, and we did receive an overbid from a company called NNI Acquisition Inc.," Spiegel spokeswoman Debbie Koopman said.
An auction was held for the Newport News catalog and Internet operations May 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
"The original price we published was $25 million," Koopman said. "It reached $28.6 million as the final auction price -- and the assumption of certain liabilities."
Koopman described Pangea Holdings as a small group of private investors. It acquired Motherware, a direct marketer serving women who breast feed or expect to after giving birth. Koopman provided no information regarding NNI.
In another development, Spiegel obtained an extension until Sept. 7 for its period of exclusivity regarding the filing of a reorganization plan.
When asked about the planned disposition of the Spiegel catalog and its Eddie Bauer division, Koopman said, "we're still going through the process." Spiegel retained Miller Buckfire Lewis Ying & Co. last month to solicit parties interested in acquiring Eddie Bauer.
In April, it was reported that Newport News would remain based in New York and operate a distribution facility in Virginia.
