Wickes Companies

Wickes Companies was a diversified manufacturing and retail conglomerate. It renamed itself after its subsidiary Collins & Aikman in 1992.

Wickes Companies, Inc.
TypePrivate
Industry
  • Lumber and building materials retail stores
  • Apparel and hosiery manufacturing
  • Automotive and electronics parts manufacturing
Founded1952
Defunct2007
SuccessorCollins & Aikman
HeadquartersSanta Monica, California, United States
Number of employees
28,000 (1984)

Wickes acquired the Michigan Bean Company in December 1955 in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.6 million. Michigan Bean was one of the country's largest bean storage facilities.[1]

Gamble-Skogmo acquisition

In August 1980, Wickes acquired Gamble-Skogmo Inc., a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based retail conglomerate, for more than $200 million. Although this grew Wickes aggregate sales to more than $4 billion per year, the company took on significant new debt.

In May 1981, Wickes shut down Tempo, a former Gamble-Skogmo subsidiary operating 29 discount variety stores in the Western U.S.[2]

Bankruptcy

Wickes started bankruptcy reorganization in April 1982. With $1.6 billion in debt at stake, it was at the time largest Chapter 11 reorganization since the passage of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.[3]

Corporate acquisitions

In 1985, Wickes acquired the Gulf and Western Consumer and Industrial Products Group division of Gulf and Western Industries for approximately $1 billion.[4] The division included the following subsidiaries:

Hardware retail

W.R. Grace, another conglomerate which Sigoloff had recently led through restructuring, began to sell off its 660-store retail division piecemeal in 1985.[5] Wickes bought Orchard Supply Hardware and Home Centers West from Grace in May 1986.[6][7]

Wickes Lumber

In April 1988, Wickes completed the spin-out of the Wickes Lumber Company as a new public company. In June 1997, Wickes Lumber changed its corporate name to "Wickes Inc."[8] In its last published financial statements, Wickes Inc. reported a net loss of over $45 million for the six months leading up to June 2003. In January 2004 Wickes Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[9]

Transformation into Collins & Aikman

The Wickes Companies bought Collins & Aikman in 1987 for $1.16 billion.[10]

In 1989, Wickes was merged into WCI Holdings, controlled by the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Wasserstein Perella & Co. WCI changed its name to Collins & Aikman and moved its headquarters from California to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1992.[10]

References
  1. "MERGER APPROVED; Michigan Bean Co. to Become Division of Wickes Corp". The New York Times. 1955-12-31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  2. Upi (1981-05-08). "Company News; Wickes to Close Unit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  3. Brown, Warren (September 23, 1984). "Wickes' Wonder: Largest Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Emerges a Textbook Turnaround". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  4. "G.&W.-Wickes". The New York Times. September 13, 1985.
  5. Talley, Jim (December 11, 1985). "W.R. GRACE TO SELL ITS RETAIL DIVISION". Sun-Sentinel.
  6. "Wickes Buys Grace Units". Chicago Tribune. May 7, 1986.
  7. "Wickes to Acquire 2 W.R. Grace Units". New York Times. May 6, 1986.
  8. Form 10-K, Wickes, Inc., December 30, 2000
  9. "ORDER MAKING FINDINGS AND REVOKING REGISTRATIONS BY DEFAULT AS TO SIX RESPONDENTS" (PDF). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. June 8, 2009.
  10. "History of Collins & Aikman". FundingUniverse. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
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