Spiegel Plans to Give Ownership to Creditors

Spiegel Inc. plans to give ownership of the company and its Eddie Bauer unit to creditors including Commerzbank, a lawyer representing the creditors said.

Hamburg, Germany-based Otto will no longer own the company, said the lawyer, David LeMay. Spiegel’s unsecured creditors include Commerzbank, Allianz unit Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and DZ Bank, according to papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Downers Grove, Ill.-based Spiegel filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2003 after declining sales and credit card defaults left it saddled with $1.7 billion in debt.

The company sold its 99-year-old Spiegel catalog and Newport News women’s apparel units to Pangea Holdings Ltd. for $82 million in two deals last year.