Heritage Home Group
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Home furnishings |
| Founded | November 25, 2013 |
| Headquarters | High Point, North Carolina , United States |
Key people | Pierre de Villemejane (President and CEO) |
| Products | Furniture brands including Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage |
Heritage Home Group LLC, created to purchase the majority of assets from the insolvent Furniture Brands International, operated as a home furnishings firm headquartered in High Point, North Carolina. Its brand portfolio featured names like Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, and Drexel Heritage.
History
On September 9, 2013, Furniture Brands International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, aiming to divest all its businesses except Lane Furniture to a consortium overseen by Oaktree Capital Management LP. By October 2, a court approved a $280 million stalking horse offer submitted by KPS Capital Partners. Although Samson Holding Ltd., the largest shareholder, initially expressed interest, KPS’s proposal was ultimately authorized on November 22. Subsequently, on November 25, KPS established Heritage Home Group LLC to acquire "substantially all of the assets" of Furniture Brands. Concurrently, Furniture Brands’ chairman and CEO Ralph Scozzafava stepped down, with Ira Glazer appointed as Heritage’s president and CEO.
In early 2014, Heritage announced several facility shutdowns resulting in workforce reductions: Thomasville Furniture’s North Carolina plant closed by March 21 with 84 employees laid off; Lane Furniture’s Saltillo, Mississippi factory ceased operations leading to 480 job eliminations, while other plants in the Tupelo vicinity remained operational. Additionally, the Pearson Company facility in High Point was shuttered by August, impacting 86 workers.
By April 2014, Heritage intended to close its Clayton headquarters by June 25 and relocate likely to High Point, North Carolina; the Ballwin, Missouri office was also scheduled for closure by the end of that year. In June, the final Drexel Heritage manufacturing site in Morganton, North Carolina was closed with 87 positions cut following production shifts abroad.
A bankruptcy filing in December 2014 disclosed that United Furniture Industries acquired the 475,000-square-foot Lane Furniture facility in Tupelo. In April 2015, Heritage invested $2.7 million to transform a former Drexel-Heritage showroom in High Point into a new 100,000-square-foot headquarters. After Ira Glazer’s departure in May, Richard Lozyniak assumed interim CEO duties; during renovations, the headquarters temporarily relocated to Thomasville.
On September 8, 2015, Pierre de Villemejane was appointed President and CEO; he brought prior leadership experience from KPS-owned companies WWRD Holdings Ltd. and Speedline Technologies Inc.
United Furniture Industries agreed to acquire Lane Company by late 2017. In December of that year, Heritage sold Lane Ventures to Bassett Furniture Industries for $15.1 million. The company restructured into three divisions: Broyhill under Harvey Dondale; Thomasville & Co. led by Regan Iglesia; and a luxury brands segment including Hickory Chair and Maitland-Smith managed by Henry Bowman.
On July 29, 2018, HH Global II BV (the entity operating Heritage) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. RHF Investments Inc., owner of Century, Hancock & Moore and Highland House brands, purchased the luxury brands division. Heritage planned to market Thomasville & Co. and Broyhill collectively.
By September 2018, RHF Investments finalized its acquisition of the luxury brands portfolio. The highest bid for Thomasville & Co.—$38.5 million—was submitted by HHG IPCo. LLC, a partnership between SB360 Capital Partners and Authentic Brands Group based in New York City, known for acquiring distressed firms with outsourcing models. Following court approval, Big Lots acquired Broyhill trademarks on November 9, 2018.
In December 2018, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court authorized sales of Heritage’s headquarters property for $4 million to Medical Realty Advisors LLC and a Lenoir site for $175,000 to Hamilton Square LLC.
The $4 million transaction transferring ownership of the headquarters/showroom building to Eastchester Storage LLC concluded on March 5, 2019; the facility currently serves as a storage location.