The world's largest luggage company, Samsonite, put its U.S. retail division into bankruptcy on Sept. 2, 2009. Kyle Gendreau, the treasurer of Samsonite Company Stores and CFO of Samsonite Corp. said in a statement, "The recession caused a severe decline in consumers purchasing travel-related goods and the company has responded to this critical situation with a substantial restructuring program." As part of this pre-packaged reorganization plan, Samsonite said it would close up to 84 of its 173 U.S. stores, which are located across 38 states. Most of the closings will occur at U.S. malls, as the company intends to focus its U.S. retailing strategy almost solely on its better-performing outlet store division. Retail liquidation firm, Hilco Merchant Resources, is expecting to receive bankrutpcy court approval to manage the store closing process and dispose of Samsonite's leases related to the closures. If all goes as planned, the store closing process will terminate on Nov. 30, 2009. In 2007, a private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners, bought out Samsonite for $1.7 billion. Under this new ownership, Samsonite's full price store footprint expanded. The company plans to emerge from bankruptcy within 45 to 90 days.