The Sunday night deadline for bids in the auction for Borders passed with no offers besides the “stalking horse” liquidation bid, as the chain moved one step closer to going out of business entirely as a going concern. Jahm Najafi told Bloomberg News “we will not, reluctantly,” make a revised bid for the bookseller. The ever-upbeat Borders management continued to insist that interest persists, with ceo Mike Edwards indicating to the WSJ “that the retailer had received some inquiries over the weekend.” The paper added late Sunday that Books-a-Million was in discussions “on some kind of potential deal” though there […]
Bookstores
Follett Said to be Looking for Buyer
DealReporter (which we are reminded is not always on the money with their speculative stories) says in a piece carried on FT.com that privately-held Follett “is in the midst of a sale process,” according to two bankers. Their sources say that Credit Suisse has been retained to advised the company, in which the Follett family still has “significant ownership,” and “the company plans to hold management presentations at the end of July with potential suitors.” (DR is a little confused about Follett’s business, thinking that they are a publisher.) Follett’s site says they have over $2.7 billion in sales annually, […]
Judge Glenn Grants Preliminary Approval to Liquidators As Stalking Horse Bid; Objections Postponed to Monday Afternoon
Uncertainty over exactly what Najafi Companies intended to do with Borders if they bought it led to the collapse of their purchase offer by the end of Wednesday, and now the chain is headed to liquidation unless another bidder comes forward or Najafi prevails during the actual auction. The bid from liquidators that Borders had submitted to the court at the same time as the Najafi offer has been made the “stalking horse bid” for the July 19 auction, which just received Judge Martin Glenn’s approval this morning in court, pending filing of revised papers. Glenn, whose patience was wearing […]
Live from Today’s Borders Hearing
As relayed from court by Sarah Weinman (we’ll keep updating): Uncertainty over exactly what Najafi Companies intended to do with Borders if they bought it led to the collapse of their purchase offer by the end of Wednesday, and now the chain is headed to liquidation unless another bidder comes forward or Najafi prevails during the actual auction. The bid from liquidators that Borders had submitted to the court at the same time as the Najafi offer has been made the “stalking horse bid” for the July 19 auction, awaiting Judge Martin Glenn’s official approval later this morning in court. […]
Borders Is Headed to Liquidation As Najafi Offer Is Withdrawn (Or Not “Supported”)
Uncertainty over exactly what Najafi Companies intended to do with Borders if they bought it led to collapse of the purchase offer by the end of Wednesday and the chain is headed to liquidation unless another bidder comes forward or Najafi prevails during the actual auction. In the day’s preamble, the creditors committee filed an objection in bankruptcy court to Najafi’s offer, which was so open-ended as to allow the possibility that he would still cancel leases and liquidate the chain while keeping “valuable intellectual property (i.e., the Borders name and related intellectual property rights) and other assets for less […]
Briefs: BBC Takes Big Writedown on Lonely Planet; Collins Buys A&R Franchise Stores
BBC Worldwide write down nearly £34 million (or $54 million) on the value of Lonely Planet, after paying £42 million earlier this year for the remaining 25 percent of the company outside of its control. (The BBC bought a 75 percent stake in 2007 for £89 million.) “The strength of the Australian dollar in recent years has led to challenging sales conditions for the Lonely Planet business,” said the company in a statement. “This has been compounded by declines since 2008 in key travel guide markets suffering from the impact of the global financial crisis.” The rise in the Australian […]