Hudson wins Robb & Stucky auction

Liquidator offers highest bid for Robb & Stucky, but retailer still seeks investors to stay in business

Clint Engel -- Furniture/Today Staff -- Casual Living, 3/8/2011 9:52:55 AM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — High-end retailer Robb & Stucky faces liquidation now that stalking horse bidder Hudson Capital and Hyperams offered the highest bid in an auction of the retailer's assets.

But Robb & Stucky official Dan Lubner said the battle isn't quite over yet, noting that the retailer will continue to work with potential investors on a bid to keep the company as a going concern, and hopes to bring it before a U.S. Bankruptcy Court before a 1 p.m. hearing today to approve the sale.

Lubner, president of the 20-store Top 100 company's hospitality division, confirmed early this morning that Hudson won during an auction that started later than expected Monday and went into the early morning hours today.

"While Hudson ‘won' the bid, we are still in process of working on an enterprise sale," he said in an e-mail. "We hope to have this complete before (today's) court proceedings."

According to a local report, Lubner said that failing this, he hopes to persuade top secured creditors Bank of America and Collier Enterprises to hold off for 24 to 48 hours so the retailer can solidify its enterprise bid.

Fort Myers, Fla.-based Robb & Stucky filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 18, striking a tentative deal with Hudson and Hyperams to serve as agent for liquidation of substantially all assets, subject to better offers at the auction.

According to the agreement, the bidder would to pay 75.2% of the value of the inventory. The break-up fee under the agreement is $475,000.