Archie "Art" Van Elslander founded Art Van Furniture in 1959 and built a hugely successful and financially conservative company. In 2020, after a sale to private equity through a controversial leveraged buyout transaction, Art Van filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy case and abruptly closed. In 2021, Loves Furniture, the purchaser of many of the old Art Van stores, also suddenly closed and liquidated, with "Grand Opening" signs being replaced by "Going Out of Business" signs overnight. Our panel of experts will dissect the downfall of the two companies and highlight the issues that other companies must address to avoid similar fates. Topics to be discussed include principles of private equity investing, lender workout strategy and negotiations, and liquidation and bankruptcy sales.
Moderator:
Ethan Dunn, Maxwell Dunn PLC
Panelists: Brendan Best, Varnum Law
Ty Clutterbuck,Peninsula Capital Partners LLC
Paul Hage, Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss
Laura Marerco, Huron Consulting Group
Free to members and guests.
Zoom link will be sent prior to event to the email address used at time of registration.
The panel discussion will be followed by a 30 minute networking session.
