Buying Fur Retailers Turns Fashionable As Fur Vault, Antonovich Stakes Are Sold
NEW YORK -- This isn't fur-buying season, but buying fur retailers seems to be getting trendy.</br></br>Centaur Partners II, a Bethesda, Md., investment partnership, said last week that it has amassed 25.6% of Fur Vault Inc. and may buy more. Just last month, a group of Canadians in the fur business bought a controlling interest in Antonovich Inc., another of the small handful of public fur retailers.</br></br>Fur-industry experts say the buying activity in the two firms, while unrelated, indicates that the business may be poised for profitability after several dismal years. In 1987, retail demand was strong and skin prices soared, but after the stock market crashed in October, sales plummeted and many fur stores were left with bloated -- and expensive -- inventories. Both Fur Vault and Antonovich posted losses two years in a row.</br></br>Melvyn J. Estrin, one of Centaur's partners, said in an interview, "We believe this is an undervalued stock." Fur Vault went public in 1984 at $11 a share and got as high as $15 in 1987, but it has been languishing lately at about $2.50. Centaur has been buying the stock for as much as $4.50 a share and now has 3.2 million common shares. Fur Vault shares fell 12.5 cents to $3.875 Friday in American Stock Exchange composite trading.</br></br>Mr. Estrin described Centaur's intentions as "friendly." He added, "We've had some discussions with Fur Vault and would like to get some positions on the board and help with input on the future of the company. We've left all our options open: We could buy or sell or increase our position."