It resolves unpaid debts to banks and vendors while preserving livelihoods across the region, the judge noted. The 39-store chain employs 8,000 people, 5,000 in Pennsylvania.
The two men now buying the company ran the 97-year-old Reading-based business before cashing out their ownership interests in 2006 and handing control to Edwin Lakin's son.
In somber remarks to reporters, Ken Lakin called it a "near miracle" that the deal garnered support from the company's lenders, given the global credit freeze that has made banks squeamish about outstanding loans being held by struggling businesses.
"Al Boscov is, I think, a miracle maker here," Lakin said of his 79-year-old uncle, who had run the business for years hand-in-glove with his father.
Today, those two family elders are among the broad group of friends and family investors who agreed to contribute a portion of $100 million in equity and junior loans that are part of the overall $305 purchase. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also provided $35 million in loan guarantees.
"We are delighted with this outcome and are gratified that we will be able to continue participating in an active way in all the communities we serve," Albert Boscov said in a prepared statement.
At a time when the retail sector is asphyxiating from the contraction of consumer spending, Gross praised the Boscov-Lakin family for its commitment to the communities where the stores are situated and its "faith in the future" during "dark economic times."
The buyback will allow the company to continue operating, rather than potentially shutting the doors of the nation's oldest family-owned department store chain.
Lakin seemed on the verge of tears as he began to speak to reporters after the judge's ruling. "You leave one dream behind. Now it's time to start a new dream," he said.
