Berkline/BenchCraft Pulls IPO, Withdraws from Moody’s

September 11, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Motion Upholstery on September 2006 Upholstery producer Berkline/BenchCraft has decided not to move forward with a planned initial public offering.

The company, which had filed paperwork to start the process in April 2005, pulled its documentation about six weeks ago. Bill Wittenberg, president and chief executive officer, said this morning that business conditions didn’t warrant issuing the public offering.

“Business conditions really didn’t improve, and we had a lot of sensitive information out there that anyone could have gotten their hands on,” he said, adding that business needs to improve and consumer confidence needs to shift before the company would reconsider.

“The timing just isn’t good, so we decided to get it out of the public domain,” he said.

The company also requested withdrawal of its debt rating with Moody’s Investors Service. Berkline/BenchCraft’s lenders no longer require the debt rating.

Wittenberg said if the business climate changes, the company may decide to revisit the possibility of an IPO.

“If things improve, we can always go through the process again,” he said. “Conditions were much better back in April ‘05.”