Buxbaum/Century Case Study: How To Stand
Behind Your Numbers

Take one furniture manufacturer, in Chino, California. Add a 250,000 sq. ft. factory full of hardwood and panel processing machinery, finishing, line, and inventory (raw materials, finished goods, WIP), and stir in competitive bidding on the orderly liquidation of finished goods inventory, and an auction of machinery & equipment assets and the balance of unsold inventory. What do you get? Why, of course, Buxbaum/Century taking the whole lot as the highest bidder on combined assets with a cash-up-front guarantee.

Buxbaum/Century (and, yes, that website would be www.buxbaumcentury.com) is our two year old joint venture with Calgary-based Century Services, Inc., combining their long-standing experience in machinery & equipment along with our long historical expertise in consumer product inventories at the wholesale and retail distribution levels.
The secured creditor was Bay View Financial Corp. and there were bids from several liquidators, few of whom included a guarantee component. Buxbaum/Century produced the best net offer based on the complimentary strategy of liquidating both inventory and M&E in the same program. Synergy. Others may talk about it, but Buxbaum Group actually does it, for the benefit of the stakeholders.

As for the outcome? Sales commenced September 2002 and concluded with an auction in October. Liquidation was conducted from the factory via a four week Tent Sale along with aggressive marketing and promotion work, yielding approximate net recovery of 65% on cost. The absolute/unreserved auction attracted 300 buyers from 6 states, Mexico, and Canada. The net result to the Secured Lender was a net minimum guarantee surplus sharing payment equaling 49% of the initial cash guarantee.