face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Munich-based Escada AG is seeking

investors to rescue it from insolvency. 

The company filed for protection in August after a planned bond exchange

failed.

class=MsoNormal>style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">German newspaper style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that a

consortium anchored around Sven Ley, the son of Escada founder Wolfgang Ley, has

submitted an offer.  While that

report said Italian investment house Borletti participated in that bid, a

spokesperson for the group denied its participation in the Ley

bid./>

face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Financial Times had erroneously reported

that final bids for Escada were due by Oct. 23.style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Just this week, however, the company

announced it has retained KPMG's Munich M&A division to find and negotiate

with potential investors.

face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The company's preliminary

insolvency administrator, Dr. Christian Gerloff, says the Board has "received a

series of interested queries from potential investors."style="mso-spacerun: yes">  According to Gerloff, "this interest

indicates the strength of the Escada brand."

face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">LBN Comment:style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Escada may have a strong brand, but it

has weak financial performance: 

Escada suffered a loss of €91.7 million on a 24% revenue drop to €151

million for the first half of 2009.  Interested parties should call KPMG

Munich (Tel: +49 89 9282-00).

(Posted 3 Nov

2009)