Federated says "several" buyers interested in Fingerhut

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Posted 8:49AM on Tuesday, January 22, 2002

MINNEAPOLIS - Several interested parties have inquired about the Minnetonka-based Fingerhut Cos. catalog business, said a spokeswoman for Federated Department Stores, Fingerhut's parent company. "We have a process in place for dealing with that," spokeswoman Carol Sanger said. She declined to reveal the number of potential buyers that called Cincinnati-based Federated, which last week announced plans to shut down the 54-year-old Fingerhut unless a buyer was found. Interested suitors are being referred to Federated's investment banker, Credit Suisse First Boston, Sanger said. She declined to discuss the viablility of the interest in Fingerhut. "I don't want to characterize 'expressions of interest' as anything other than 'expressions of interest,"' Sanger said. Potential buyer Peter Lytle of Wayzata said that he contacted Federated's investment bankers Monday. The other Fingerhut suitor to surface publicly, Twin Cities entrepreneur Tom Petters, has said that he called the bankers last week. Lytle, a business turnaround specialist who revived Minnesota firms Creamette Co. and Faribault Woolen Mills, has signed a confidentiality agreement and is reviewing the company's financial information. "It's moving rather fast," said Lytle, managing partner of Business Development Group. Lytle said he anticipates talking soon with former Fingerhut chief executive officers Ted Deikel and Will Lansing about the company's history. He also said employee ownership in Fingerhut is possible, although he would be hesitant to propose an investment to Fingerhut workers that was overly risky. "It really works well when employees have ownership in a company, but you can't always do it," he said. "If you'll be risking employees' savings and putting them in financial jeopardy, you don't want to do that." St. Cloud would lose nearly 2,700 jobs if the Fingerhut distribution center there closes. Fingerhut employs 4,700 in Minnesota, including about 1,500 in the Twin Cities. Fingerhut also employs 1,300 people in Tennessee.