K-Line Close Outs?
According to several threads on various O Gauge forums, Lionel has sent train shops a sales letter containing a list of original K-Line inventory, manufactured by K-Line before Lionel’s involvement, available at reduced prices. These items will not have warranty coverage from Lionel and will be sold as-is. I’ve seen a copy of the letter from Lionel’s VP of Sales posted on several forums and judging by the posts in the forums it seems to be legitimate. The letter also states that new "K-Line by Lionel" products will be in Lionel’s 2006 Volume 2 catalog (info that is consistent with a Lionel press release about the K-Line deal released in April) due out in July ‘06 . Contact your local train shop for more details.
Related Posts
New Press Release From Lionel About K-Line Deal
Lionel and MTH Legal Recap By Erol B. Gurcan
April 26, 2006 - Last week, I posted several articles concerning the current state of Lionel’s legal matters. However, last week was also a vacation week since it was right after Easter, and many kids were off from school. Thus, many O gauge enthusiasts may have been away with their kids or grandchildren, and not read some or any of my legal posts. Many also went to the York meet and may not have read the on line forums in the few days before it. This article will bring you up to speed as there were several important and interesting legal matters last week that directly affected Lionel and/or MTH. Even if you read my posts last week, I think you will learn something new in this article.
1) I reported on April 17 the Sanda Kan K-Line sale of assets agreement was scheduled to be signed and completed in a couple of days. The deal was completed last
Continue to read Lionel and MTH Legal Recap By Erol B. Gurcan
New Press Release From Lionel About K-Line Deal
Lionel’s CEO Jerry Calabrese has issued a press release today on Lionel’s web site. If you have been following OGaugeWatch.com over the past week there’s not much new news in the statement. You can read his statement here.
Legal Matters Update
Erol Gurcan posted his latest update on several legal matters within the O Gauge industry on the OGR Forum. Check it out here.
UPDATE: Here is another update from Erol:
Hi,Dave-here is the latest on the K-Line Sanda Kan deal. You can post it on ogaugewatch.com
In my legal article yesterday, I stated the asset purchase agreement between Sanda Kan and K-Line was scheduled to be signed the same day (April 17). I also stated the closing should occur in a couple of days. I can now confirm based on my two sources closely involved with the deal that both the asset purchase agreement was signed today (April 18) and the closing also took place today. The closing involved Sanda Kan paying K-Line and Merrill Lynch. Thus, the agreement is now a done deal. It will be interesting to see when Lionel makes a formal announcement that they have obtained the licensing rights pursuant to its agreement with Sanda Kan now that they own the assets.
On a related matter, some have asked about the K-Line products which are still in their possession for repair and have not been returned. I have been informed that beginning last week, a former K-Line employee began making repairs, and the items are being sent back to their owners. However, this will take a little time. It is expected that most or all items will be repaired before they are returned. Concerning parts for K-Line products, I was not able to find out what will happen with this.
Erol B. Gurcan
Please note that I normally will post Erol’s articles on OGaugeWatch.com in their entirety but due to a glich with my email I didn’t receive a copy of Erol’s original article that he posted on OGR so I linked to the OGR version. Dave
Lionel/K-Line Update from Erol B Gurcan
There have been some recent posts on the OGR 3 rail forum stating that the K-Line website has been shut down, possibly due to the host not being paid. Some may also interpret this to mean that the K-Line’s sale of assets to Sanda Kan has been completed, since there is no longer a need for a website.
I contacted K-Line’s bankruptcy attorney, Terri Gardner, today as I had not heard anything on their pending sale of assets to Sanda Kan since Lionel’s motion to allow it to enter into the licensing deal with Sanda Kan had been approved by the bankruptcy court on February 28, 2006, 10 days ago. Ms. Gardner stated K-Line’s sale of its assets to Sanda Kan has not been concluded. There still is no closing date. The agreement is still being negotiated and written documents for it being drawn up. The information obtained from Ms. Gardner does not violate any attorney client privileges.
As I recently stated on February 17 and 28 2006, until the sale of K-Lines assets to Sanda Kan is completed, they do not have anything to license to Lionel. Once the K-Line Sanda Kan deal is concluded, it is expected the Sanda Kan Lionel licensing deal will take place shorty thereafter as the two have already signed a tentative agreement concerning it. Continue to stay tuned.
I will update everyone once there is a major development.
Erol Gurcan
K-Line Web Site Down
If you visit the K-Line website you will get the following message:
The Web Site for K-Line Trains is currently unavailable. If you have questions regarding the site for K-Line Trains you can contact the web host for information.
The site is still accessible if you link to it beyond the home page. Click here to get in.
UPDATE: I missed this yesterday….in a thread on the OGR forum a response from the web host of the K-Line site is posted. The response indicates that the site was "shut down" due to lack of payment from K-Line.