1
 A consortium of private investors
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2
 operating as LJH Funding Co.
1
elaboration-additional-e

3
 said 
4
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4
it has made a $409 million cash bid for most of L.J. Hooker Corp. 's real-estate and shopping-center holdings.
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5
 The $409 million bid includes the assumption of an estimated $300 million in secured liabilities on those properties,
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6
 according to those
5004
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7
 making the bid.
6
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8
 The group is led by Jay Shidler, chief executive officer of Shidler Investment Corp. in Honolulu, and A. Boyd Simpson, chief executive of the Atlanta-based Simpson Organization Inc.
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9
 Mr. Shidler's company specializes in commercial real-estate investment
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10
 and claims to have $1 billion in assets;
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11
 Mr. Simpson is a developer and a former senior executive of L.J. Hooker.
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12
 The assets are good,
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antithesis

13
 but they require more money and management
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14
 than can be provided in L.J. Hooker's current situation,
13
comparison

15
 said Mr. Simpson in an interview.
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16
 Hooker's philosophy was to build and sell.
17
antithesis

17
 We want to build and hold.
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18
 L.J. Hooker,
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19
 based in Atlanta,
18
elaboration-additional-e

20
 is operating with protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
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 Its parent company, Hooker Corp. of Sydney, Australia, is currently being managed by a court-appointed provisional liquidator.
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22
 Sanford Sigoloff, chief executive of L.J. Hooker, said yesterday in a statement
5021
attribution

23
 that he has not yet seen the bid 
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List

24
but that he would review it
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Sequence

25
 and bring it to the attention of the creditors committee.
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Sequence

26
 The $409 million bid is estimated by Mr. Simpson as representing 75% of the value of all Hooker real-estate holdings in the U.S.
5032
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27
 Not included in the bid are Bonwit Teller or B. Altman & Co., L.J. Hooker's department-store chains.
5030
antithesis

28
 The offer covers the massive 1.8 million-square-foot Forest Fair Mall in Cincinnati, the 800,000 square-foot Richland Fashion Mall in Columbia, S.C., and the 700,000 square-foot Thornton Town Center mall in Thornton, Colo.
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29
 The Thornton mall opened Sept. 19 with a Bigg's hypermarket as its anchor;
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30
 the Columbia mall is expected to open Nov. 15.
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List

31
 Other Hooker properties included are a 20-story office tower in midtown Atlanta,
5027
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32
 expected to be completed next February;
31
elaboration-additional-e

33
 vacant land sites in Florida and Ohio; L.J. Hooker International, the commercial real-estate brokerage company
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34
 that once did business as Merrill Lynch Commercial Real Estate,
33
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35
 plus other shopping centers.
5029
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36
 The consortium was put together by Hoare Govett, the London-based investment banking company 
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37
that is a subsidiary of Security Pacific Corp.
36
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38
 We don't anticipate any problems
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39
 in raising the funding for the bid,
38
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40
 said Allan Campbell, the head of mergers and acquisitions at Hoare Govett, in an interview.
5035
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41
 Hoare Govett is acting as the consortium's investment bankers.
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elaboration-additional

42
 According to people familiar with the consortium,
5043
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43
 the bid was code-named Project Klute, a reference to the film Klute
5043
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44
 in which a prostitute 
5041
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45
played by actress Jane Fonda
44
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46
 is saved from a psychotic businessman by a police officer
5040
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47
 named John Klute.
46
elaboration-object-attribute-e

48
 L.J. Hooker was a small home-building company
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49
 based in Atlanta in 1979
48
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50
 when Mr. Simpson was hired to push it into commercial development.
5047
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51
 The company grew modestly until 1986,
52
temporal-after

52
 when a majority position in Hooker Corp. was acquired by Australian developer George Herscu, currently Hooker's chairman.
5048
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53
 Mr. Herscu proceeded to launch an ambitious, but ill-fated, $1 billion acquisition binge 
5049
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54
that included Bonwit Teller and B. Altman & Co., as well as majority positions in Merksamer Jewelers, a Sacramento chain; Sakowitz Inc., the Houston-based retailer, and Parisian Inc., the Southeast department-store chain.
53
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55
 Eventually Mr. Simpson and Mr. Herscu had a falling out over the direction of the company,
5054
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56
 and 
5052
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57
Mr. Simpson said 
56
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58
he resigned in 1988.
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59
 Since then, Hooker Corp. has sold its interest in the Parisian chain back to Parisian's management
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60
 and is currently attempting to sell the B. Altman & Co. chain.
5055
List

61
 In addition, Robert Sakowitz, chief executive of the Sakowitz chain, is seeking funds 
5056
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62
to buy out the Hooker interest in his company.
61
purpose

63
 The Merksamer chain is currently being offered for sale by First Boston Corp.
5055
List

64
 Reached in Honolulu,
5059
circumstance

65
 Mr. Shidler said 
5058
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66
that he believes 
67
attribution

67
the various Hooker malls can become profitable with new management.
5058
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68
 These aren't mature assets,
5061
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69
 but they have the potential
5061
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70
 to be so,
69
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71
 said Mr. Shidler.
5062
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72
 Managed properly,
73
condition

73
 and with a long-term outlook, these can become investment-grade quality properties.
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