Days after announcing it was closing all of its stores and liquidating, LL Flooring is changing course by selling its name and remaining open stores to founder and former CEO Tom Sullivan.
Sullivan’s private equity firm, F9 Investments, signed a going-concern sale of LL Flooring to acquire 219 stores, inventory in those stores, the Sandston, Va., distribution center, LL Flooring’s intellectual property and other assets, the company said in a statement.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with F9 Investments for a going-concern sale following significant efforts by our team and advisors to preserve the business and maintain ongoing operations,” LL Flooring CEO Charles Tyson said in a statement. “As we move through the court-supervised process toward the approval and completion of this transaction, we remain committed to continuing to serve our valued customers and working closely with our vendors and partners.”
Sullivan founded the company formerly known as Lumber Liquidators in 1994 and served as president and CEO from 1994–2006. Sullivan briefly returned to his role as CEO in 2015 three months after “60 Minutes” aired its investigation into the formaldehyde content of the company’s Chinese-made laminate products.
The company eliminated his position in 2017. He has made multiple previous attempts to purchase the company since then, most recently an offer in May 2023 to buy the company for $5.76 per share and a second bid in November for $3.00 per share.
The 219 continuing stores that are part of the asset purchase agreement will remain open and operate as usual, while the remaining 211 stores will continue their closing sales, LL Flooring said.
LL Flooring filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the beginning of August, initiating closing sales at 94 stores and kickstarting a search for a buyer, but LL Flooring announced last week it would be going out of business after it failed to find a buyer that could keep the chain afloat.
The purchase by F9 is expected to be completed by the end of September, subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court and other closing conditions, LL Flooring reported.
