Analyst: Sun Capital buying Furniture Brands? Fuhgetaboutit!

Despite a private investment group’s recent interest in talking to Clayton-based Furniture Brands International Inc. about a takeover, one analyst said Thursday that she was “skeptical” that a deal will occur.

Furniture Brands, the country’s second-largest furniture-maker, lost money last year as sales slid. Last month, it said Sun Capital Securities Group of Boca Raton, Fl. had approached the company to discuss a buyout.

But tightening credit markets and Furniture Brands’ “deteriorating fundamentals” make a deal unlikely, Morgan Keegan analyst Laura Champine told clients in a note. “The macroeconomic environment for furniture manufacturers remains extremely challenging.”

Further complicating matters, any leveraged transaction “seems implausible” given the current stress in the credit markets, Champine said. She recommended investors sell the stock.