RoomPlace, WMC unfazed by Bear Stearns troubles
By Clint Engel and Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, March 31, 2008
High Point — Two industry businesses that have had ties to Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank that collapsed earlier this month, say the firm's troubles have no impact on their operations.
The World Market Center in Las Vegas announced in July 2005 that it had secured $225 million in permanent financing through Bear Stearns Commercial Mortgage to replace a first-phase construction loan.
Dana Andrew, WMC vice president of marketing and public relations said last week that Bear Stearns was behind loans for permanent financing for Buildings A and B. But they "were securitized and sold off by Bear Stearns long ago," she said. "Bear Stearns is no longer the lender to WMC and WMC has no exposure correlated to them."
The loan for Building C, on schedule to open for the July Las Vegas Market, is from HypoVereinsbank, she said.
Also in 2005, Lombard, Ill.,-based Harlem Furniture, now The RoomPlace at Harlem Furniture, announced that three private equity firms had teamed up with Harlem CEO Bruce Berman to acquire the Top 100 company.
One of the firms is Bear Growth Capital Partners, an arm of Bear Stearns.
Harlem Chief Operating Officer Geoff Maxwell said, "We're very comfortable (Bear Stearns' collapse) doesn't affect our growth plans, and the Bear Growth Capital Partners team remains a strong support to the company."
Bear Stearns, entangled in the subprime mortgage meltdown and the credit crisis, is expected to be sold J.P. Morgan Chase. The deal, brokered by the federal government, saved Bear from filing for bankruptcy, according to reports.
