WWBW Story Deepens

January 24. 2007 11:57AM
Sale of The Woodwind & The Brasswind is delayed


By ED RONCO
Tribune Staff Writer

The sale of ailing musical instrument seller The Woodwind & The Brasswind, located on South Bend’s northwest side, has been delayed.

The company, located at 4004 Technology Drive in South Bend, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.

A public auction of the company’s assets was scheduled for Wednesday but was called off after Steinway Musical Inc. withdrew a bid for Woodwind & Brasswind last week.


In December, Massachusetts-based Steinway said it would pay $40.5 million for Brasswind’s assets, out-bidding California-based Guitar Center by $3.4 million.

Steinway said it called off the deal because of a "failure of certain conditions necessary to close the transaction," the company said in a Jan. 16 statement.

Those conditions were "alleged misrepresentations in the closing conditions," said Chad Gettleman, corporate attorney for Woodwind & Brasswind owner Dennis Bamber.

Bamber "fully disputes" those accusations, Gettleman said, and believes Steinway’s termination of the deal was "improper."

For more on this story, see tomorrow’s edition of the South Bend Tribune.