Bankruptcy Court Approves $40 Million LL Flooring Sale to Founder Tom Sullivan

The sale of LL Flooring to founder and former CEO Tom Sullivan moved forward another step as a bankruptcy court on Monday approved the “going concern” sale to F9 Investments, Richmond BizSense reported.

On Sept. 6, Sullivan’s private equity firm, F9 Investments, reached a deal to buy LL Flooring days after LL Flooring announced it was closing all its stores and liquidating.

The purchase, approved by the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, calls for F9 to pay $40–$43 million in exchange for LL Flooring’s 216 stores; inventory; the Sandston, Va., distribution center; and intellectual property. The filing also revealed that F9 will change LL Flooring’s name back to Lumber Liquidators.

F9 also agreed to keep jobs for up to 1,000 employees at the stores, Richmond BizSense reported.

The parties have until Sept. 30 to finalize the deal; if approved, Jason Delves, president and CEO of F9 affiliate F9 Brands, will lead LL Flooring.

“F9 Brands’ focus has been and continues to be restoring Lumber Liquidators as an iconic brand in the flooring industry,” Delves said in the court filing obtained by Richmond BizSense.

Sullivan founded LL Flooring, formerly 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.

Sullivan departed the company in 2017 but made multiple attempts to purchase the company since then.