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Georges Jolles presents plan to bail out Bidermann Int’l.

Daily News Record January 24, 1995 | Weisman, Katherine PARIS (FNS) — Georges Jolles, a former president and manager of Bidermann International, has become the latest investor to express interest in funding a restructuring plan to save the financially strapped apparel maker.

Jolles, who presented the restructuring plan jointly with Eurodif, a retail group which owns the moderate Burton France apparel chain and the Eurodif discount chain, delivered the $19.2 million (100 million francs) proposal to bail out the European operations of Bidermann International to CIRI, a French government agency responsible for supervising takeover and restructuring negotiations for troubled firms here. this web site gold toe socks

“I am doing this because I think the French part of this company can be saved,” said Jolles, referring to the European men’s wear license agreements, retail activities and uniform-making operations of the group, which are based in France.

Jolles, who also served as a consultant to Bidermann International, offered no comments about Bidermann International’s operations in the U.S. As reported, negotiations at CIRI do not include Bidermann Industries USA, the New York-based maker of Arrow shirts, Gold Toe socks, the Yves Saint Laurent men’s wear and the licensed Ralph Lauren Womenswear collections.

Last week, Bidermann International said it was in “advanced negotiations with Lucien Deveaux, an apparel manufacturer here, on a $37.7 million (200 million francs) restructuring plan.

Deveaux was the first investor named since a financing plan backed by apparel manufacturers Alain Nemarq and Leo Gros fell apart when the two grew impatient concerning litigation in New York and walked away from the deal.

Jolles said that Burton’s operations are comparable to Bidermann’s Armand Theirry men’s wear chain. He said his plan involved the exchange of Bidermann International’s hefty $92.3 million (480 million francs) debt for equity. web site gold toe socks

In addition, Jolles said his plan calls for separating Bidermann’s retail activities from its apparel-manufacturing operations. “The former is making money and the latter is losing,” he said. He attributes the poor performance of the apparel-making operations to the fact that the company has been bogged down with worrying about debt repayments and has not had been able to concentrate on manufacturing.

He feels that the apparel operations need to undergo restructuring, but emphasized that Bidermann has the capacity to develop a bigger apparellicensing business. Bidermann has issued no official response to Jolles’s bid, nor have any negotiations taken place between the two sides, according to one Bidermann observer.

“If Jolles is coming back now, it’s because he knows that it’s a good investment and that the company isn’t in such bad shape,” he said. “He has been in and out of the company twice, and both times made over $20 million. He still has buddies there, he knows what’s going on.” The last time Jolles was at Bidermann was when he was chairman and CEO from 1982 until 1988. At that time, Maurice Bidermann bought out Jolles’s shares, as well as those of Michel Zelnick, and became company chairman.

Weisman, Katherine