Video: Lane Furniture Survival Hopes Boosted

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TUPELO, Ms (WCBI) Possibly some good news today for Lane Furniture and its 14 hundred employees across North Mississippi.

A Federal bankruptcy judge this afternoon approved KPS Capital management’s 280 million dollar bid to take over Furniture Brands International – Lanes parent company.

That is a key move because in that bid KPS said it only wanted to buy Furniture Brands International IF it could keep Lane Furniture operating . At what level KPS plans to keep Lane in business is not detailed in the initial bid.

That move comes as a bit of a surprise because competing bidder Oaktree Capital Management had already provided some Debtor In Possesion financing  at Furniture Brands before KPS submitted its bid.

Oaktree had given indications it planned to liquidate Lane if granted final approval to buy Furniture Brands.

The acceptance of the KPS offer won’t be final until December 12th. Other firms could submit higher bids before that date.