Armstrong Flooring has once again pushed back the deadline for wrapping up a sale.
- The Lancaster-based manufacturer now expects to finalize a sale by a court hearing slated for Tuesday, July 12.
- In a statement issued early on Friday, July 8, a company spokesperson said the company has finalized a deal to sell its operations in China and Australia but is still working to finalize a sale of its North American assets.
- The sale will “preserve a substantial portion of the North American operations,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.
- Details will be filed with the court over the next few days, the spokesperson added.
- The transactions were originally set for a hearing on July 7
- The extension is the latest in a series of extensions for the company, which filed for bankruptcy in early May in hopes of expediting a sale.
- A sale was initially expected to close in late June.
Are there buyers: Armstrong has mentioned several bids over the course of its bankruptcy case but not in any detail.
- One potential buyer still in the running is AHF Products, according to Steve Feldman, publisher and co-owner of Floor Covering News, a trade publication based in Huntington Station, New York.
- Based on his understanding of the situation, he wrote in an email, some major creditors want to liquidate Armstrong Flooring, while others are interested in a going-concern sale.
What is AHF: The former hardwood flooring division of Armstrong Flooring.
- Armstrong Flooring sold off the division in 2019. Based in Mountville, it is now owned by Paceline Equity Partners, a Dallas-based private equity firm.
- As of this week, AHF is being represented in the Armstrong Flooring bankruptcy case by Austin Jowers of the law firm King & Spalding.
- Jowers is described in an online bio as having experience representing buyers and sellers in connection with distressed M&A transactions.
- Efforts to reach him or AHF yesterday were not successful.
- Also involved in the case now is an attorney for Gordon Brothers, a Boston-based firm specializing in the liquidation of industrial and commercial assets.
The background: Armstrong Flooring filed for bankruptcy in early May after a months-long sale process came up empty.
- The bankruptcy applies to the company’s operations in North America, not China and Australia.
- However, all of its operations and assets are up for sale, albeit separately.
- In the U.S., the company has a factory and warehouse in Lancaster County, a factory in Beech Creek and factories in Illinois, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
