
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 27, 1994                   TAG: 9405270091
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

BEST PRODUCTS POISED TO EXIT FROM BANKRUPTCY

A federal judge has issued an opinion that will allow Best Products Co. Inc. to emerge from bankruptcy, more than three years after it filed for protection from creditors.

The Richmond-based catalog showroom retailer, which operates a store in Roanoke, filed for Chapter 11 protection in January 1991 when it could not pay its mammoth debt from a 1988 leveraged buyout. The buyout took the company private by using its assets and future sales to pay for the purchase.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Tina Brozman's opinion, filed Wednesday, allows Best to emerge from the court's control in June.

``Emergence from Chapter 11 will permit Best Products to pursue even more vigorously the opportunities afforded us by our specialized catalog showroom retailing concept,'' said Stewart Kasen, Best's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Analysts who have closely followed Best, which operates 157 showrooms and 12 Best Jewelry stores in 22 states, were upbeat about the development.

The judge approved the reorganization plan that Best filed in September, which was revised slightly earlier this year.

Under the plan, creditors will receive either money (about $63 million), stock (31.8 million shares to be issued), a combination of both or nothing.

When the plan goes into effect, Best will have eliminated all of its long-term debt except $131 million in real estate mortgages and $100 million in capitalized leases.

The decision overrules objections filed by the Resolution Trust Corp. and the Rockefeller Capital Group Inc. and a few other similar creditors, which were trying to recover more than $250 million lent to Best in the retailer's 1988 leveraged buyout.

The RTC and Rockefeller had argued that Best settled for too little money in a lawsuit filed against a group of banks that helped finance the buyout. The settlement is valued at nearly $38.8 million, while the lawsuit sought $495 million.

The company filed a document last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to get approval to trade its stock on public markets.

by CNB