ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993                   TAG: 9312240102
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


COURT FREES SINGER

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Singer Furniture Co. and its managers can do business as usual without the restraint of an injunction that blocked any action involving the Roanoke company's stock.

Singer's chairman and principal stockholder, Terri Steffen, is still bound by the injunction.

The legal restraint stems from a lawsuit in which SSMC Inc. N.V. of Hong Kong charges that Singer, its former owner and the management participated in a stock fraud that diluted SSMC's interest in the furniture manufacturing company.

The suit claims the fraud was orchestrated by corporate raider and former Singer owner Paul Bilzerian through his wife, Steffen.

The privately held furniture maker's president, Dennis Ammons, said the ruling, which came after a five-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, "indicated that local management and the company were involved in no wrongdoing."

Ammons said that even though the company is private and its stock is not traded, an injunction that locks up a company's equity could affect its image.

Issues raised in the suit date from 1989, when Singer Furniture Acquisition Corp., an investment company headed by Bilzerian, bought Singer Furniture from SSMC.

Bilzerian's company, based in Tampa, Fla., also is a defendant in the suit, in which SSMC is seeking $15 million plus a 100 percent security interest in Singer stock.

SSMC says Bilzerian's company pledged the stock to it as collateral for a $44.6 million promissory note and despite later transactions and Bilzerian's sale of Singer, SSMC's interest in the stock still is valid.

Singer Furniture projects sales of $130 million this fiscal year. It has 2,400 employees, including 600 at the Roanoke plant. The other plants are in North Carolina.



 by CNB