Buyer Found for Fingerhut

Federated Department Stores Inc. (Cincinnati) announced Tuesday that it had reached a definitive agreement to sell major assets of its troubled Fingerhut catalog operation to a firm headed by a former ceo of the unit and a Minnesota wholesaler.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The buyer, FAC Acquisitions LLC, is headed by ex-Fingerhut ceo Thomas Petters and Theodore Deikel, a wholesaler based in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Assets in the deal include a distribution center and other facilities in St. Cloud, Minn.; the unit's headquarters in Minnetonka, Minn.; a data center in Plymouth, Minn.; a distribution center in Piney Flats, Tenn.; as well as the Fingerhut name, web site and existing inventory.

“We are pleased that we have been able to negotiate the sale of these Fingerhut assets,” said Ronald W. Tysoe, Federated's vice chairman, “and that the buyers have indicated a desire to rehire a number of Fingerhut employees as part of their future business plans. We anticipate being able to finalize this sale in the near future.”

Federated, which has been seeking a Fingerhut buyer for several months, operates more than 460 stores in 34 states, Guam and Puerto Rico, under the names of Macy's, Bloomingdale's, The Bon Marche, Burdines, Goldsmith's, Lazarus and Rich's, as well as macys.com and Bloomingdale's By Mail.