The deal is done.

Ted Deikel became the boss of Fingerhut Cos. again on Wednesday as he and partner Tom Petters finalized a deal to buy the Minnetonka, MN-based catalog company from Federated Department Stores Inc. This is the third time Deikel has owned Fingerhut.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, although Deikel reportedly admitted the price was less than $500 million. Federated Department Stores bought Fingerhut for $1.7 billion three years ago.

Petters and Deikel acquired Fingerhut’s St. Cloud distribution center, the Minnetonka headquarters, a distribution center in Tennessee, a Web site, inventory and other assets, according to reports.

The partners have said they would integrate the company with their existing businesses, which include e-commerce ventures and Petters’ wholesale company in Eden Prairie, MN.

It is unclear whether or not a holiday catalog is planned. Deikel has told the press that a catalog will be part of the company “in some form.” Several rate increases have changed the catalog business since he last sold Fingerhut in 1999, he said.

In early July, CompuCredit Corp. in Atlanta bought Fingerhut’s uncollected consumer debt of about $1.2 billion.

Remaining on the block are the other catalogs in the Fingerhut group, Arizona Mail Order, Figi’s and Popular Club. Cincinnati, OH-based Federated reportedly expects to sell these assets for $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.

Federated announced plans to shutter Fingerhut in January.

Federated Department Stores agreed Tuesday to sell major chunks of its Fingerhut Cos. subsidiary to Fingerhut’s former owner, Ted Deikel, reports said late Tuesday.

Deikel and his business partner, Tom Petters, reached an agreement to buy Fingerhut’s name, Web site, existing inventory, equipment and customer list.

They will also acquire Fingerhut’s distributions center in St. Cloud, MN, and Piney Flats, TN; the headquarters building in Minnetonka, MN; and the data center in Plymouth, MN.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The deal is expected to close in two weeks.

The deal mirrors a tentative agreement reached three weeks ago (DIRECT Newsline, May 23, 2002).

Petters and Deikel reportedly plan to integrate Fingerhut into their existing companies, BoomBuy, an online shopping concern, and Redtag, a wholesaler. Petters said they weren’t sure how many of the 6,000 laid-off Fingerhut employees would be rehired, said reports.

Deikel headed up Fingerhut from 1974 to 1984 and from 1990 to 1999 when he sold it to Federated.

Federated said in January that Fingerhut would be liquidated unless a buyer could be found. Efforts of another buyer, Peter Lytle, to purchase Fingerhut Cos. in its entirety, fell through in March.