LINENS: BLAME CANADA!
Bankrupt retailer Linens ‘n Things is poised to disappear altogether, as talks to save its stores in Canada have fizzled, The Post has learned.
The Clifton, NJ-based home-furnishings chain had been in talks with two key bidders, one of them Lord & Taylor owner NRDC Equity Partners, a New York-based real estate firm, to sell its small but profitable group of Canadian stores.
But NRDC and a competing bidder, Toronto-based private-equity firm Hilco Consumer Capital, both decided against bidding for the 37 stores this week, as the crisis on Wall Street dimmed the outlook for Canada’s economy and its currency, sources said.
Keeping the Canadian stores alive would have required “major restructuring,” including rent reductions from landlords and possible closings, one source close to the matter told The Post.
NRDC, which earlier this year scooped up Canada’s centuries-old Hudson’s Bay retail chain, “just couldn’t make it work” with Linens ‘n Things, the source said.
The spiked deal in Canada is the final blow for Linens ‘n Things, which filed for Chapter 11 in May after being taken private for $1.3 billion in 2005 by billionaire Leon Black’s Apollo Management.
Confirming earlier reports in The Post, Linens ‘n Things said this week it will begin liquidating its chain of US stores today.
The retailer had been in talks with a number of bidders for the US stores, including Cerberus Capital Management, which last month pulled out of a plan to downsize Linens ‘n Things to between 100 and 140 locations, from nearly 600 last year.
It’s now possible that arch-rival Bed Bath & Beyond may scoop some of Linens ‘n Things’ Canadian stores out of liquidation, sources said.
While Bed Bath & Beyond is more than twice the size of Linens ‘n Things, it has opened only a handful of stores in Canada.