NEW YORK (Reuters) – Thursday’s scheduled auction of bankrupt housewares and jewelry retailer Fortunoff Holdings LLC’s intellectual property was delayed until next week because of a power outage, the sale’s organizer said. The auction is now scheduled to take place in New York on Tuesday, June 23, at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). The deadline [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. luxury retailer Fortunoff Holdings LLC could begin liquidating as early as Wednesday, after a group of six liquidators won a bankruptcy auction for the company on Monday, according to one of the liquidators. Liquidators Great American Group, Hudson Capital, SB Capital, Tiger Capital, and jewelry liquidators Bobby Wilkerson Inc and [...]

Update: NY Times is reporting that Hilco and Gordon Bros. have withdrawn their bid. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners were named as the lead bidder in a bankruptcy auction on Monday for U.S. luxury retailer Fortunoff Holdings LLC, according to a person with knowledge of the [...]

Another Section 363 purchase-turned-Chapter 22: Fortunoff, the upscale jewelery store, has filed for bankruptcy just 10 months after NRDC Equity Partners purchased it out of bankruptcy. (A few weeks ago the same thing happened to Versa Capital, with portfolio company American Restaurant Group.)

Can’t say we didn’t expect it, though. The buyout strategy always seemed like a stretch: NRDC stated it would not close a single Fortunoff store. It also purchased the company for more than $80 million and only put down $10 million in equity. How could that possibly save a retailer that had simply stopped paying its bills and had already exhausted more than one sale-leaseback?

Upon closer examination, you have to wonder if it’s a sign of things to come for NRDC’s portfolio. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal ran a perplexing story about Richard Baker, the head of NRDC and son of successful real estate investor Robert Baker. The article describes Baker as

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. regional retailer Fortunoff filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday and said it will try to sell the business but if it cannot it will close its doors. The company, which sells jewelry, dinnerware and furniture in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, began suffering a “severe liquidity [...]

Update: Fortunoff has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. retailer Fortunoff is considering filing for bankruptcy again, nearly a year after the company was bought out of bankruptcy for about $100 million by NRDC Equity Partners, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company is in discussion with liquidators [...]