Catalina Lighting Up for Auction

Catalina Lighting has filed for bankruptcy and will be sold to Evolution Lighting or higher bidder during an auction on April 8.

The bankruptcy court for the southern district of Florida has scheduled an auction sale of all the assets of Catalina Lighting (United States and Canada), to take place on on that date.

The assets will be sold to Evolution Lighting LLC or to a higher bidder approved by the bankruptcy court. The auction will begin at 2 p.m. at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court 1406, Claude Pepper Buiilding, 51 S.W. First Ave. in Miami.

Catalina Lighting [1] is an international designer, manufacturer and distributor of lighting products. The company sells to national retailers, including home centers, national retail chains, office superstore chains, mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs, discount department stores and hardware stores. Trade names for the company include Catalina, Dana, VisionMax, Tensor and Illuminada, as well as private label brands.

Evolution Lighting LLC is an affiliate of Boyne Capital Partners Inc. [2], a Miami-based private equity firm.

According to a recent South Florida Business Journal article [3], Catalina Lighting and related company Catalina Industries filed petitions with the court declaring between $10 million and $50 million in debt as a result of the recession.

No information about secured creditors was available. Almost all the unsecured creditors listed in bankruptcy filings for both companies are Chinese entities, including: Sienhau Electric Fan, $3.35 million; Foshan Shunde Decro Lamps, $1.11 million; and DongLin Hardware & Electric, $1 million. The company last traded on Feb. 22, 2010 closing at 0.51 cents, reports the paper.