Revco will swap info with Eckerd

Drug Store News, Dec 9, 1991 by James Frederick

Revco will swap into with Eckerd

TWINSBURG, Ohio - Revco D.S. and Jack Eckerd Corp. have negotiated an agreement to share some closely held information on store performance in certain markets. The agreement is in line with Eckerd's request that Revco provide it with operating data in its bid to acquire the chain through bankruptcy reorganization.

Eckerd is one of three parties - the other two are a majority group of Revco's creditors and Rite Aid - which are vying to acquire Revco in a move that would bring it out of Chapter 11. However, Revco has balked at Eckerd's request for detailed operating results.

The new agreement, approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Harold White Nov. 15, provides Eckerd with some of the data it requested. However, the data is on a market-by-market basis, rather than on an individual-store basis. In addition, Eckerd has agreed to share similar information with Revco in return.

Both Eckerd and Rite Aid will present detailed versions of their acquisition and operating plans for Revco in a court hearing in Akron, Ohio Dec. 5. Meanwhile, a plan presented by three committees of Revco's creditors has been received by all creditors and is now being voted on, according to Revco spokesperson Diana Leuptow. The rival Eckerd and Rite Aid plans will also be voted upon following court clearance, but the court has set a Dec. 30 deadline for voting on all reorganization plans for the 1,150-store chain.

It now appears likely that Revco's three-and-a-half-year, $60 million legal imbroglio in Chapter 11 will be resolved Jan. 8, 1992, when the court brings all parties back for a confirmation hearing. The plan garnering the majority of votes is likely to prevail, but the court has the final word.

On another front, Revco is denying persistent rumors that chairman and ceo Boake Sells may leave the company following its emergence from bankruptcy. "He does not have any intention of leaving," said Leuptow. "This is a time of flux, with a lot happening. There are a lot of rumors swirling."

One set of rumors has Sells stepping down in favor of former Peoples Drug Stores President David Eisenberg. However, the reorganization plan proposed by the committees representing Revco's trade creditors, bankers and majority bondholders calls for Sells to continues as board chairman and ceo. One version of that plan proposed that Eisenberg serve on Revco's new board of directors, but not in a management capacity, according to a source close to the company.