Saturday, June 27, 2009

Borders UK courts suitors for sale of the business
Retail Week - June 26, 2009

An information memorandum is understood to have been sent out for book retailer Borders UK, which could result in a potential sale of the troubled retailer.
Sources said the memorandum has been sent to “selected private equity houses and trade buyers”.
One interested party said it was “all about to kick off” as potential investors examine the business and mull over the possibility of buying the bookseller.
Retail Week (June 12) revealed that Borders had appointed Clearwater Corporate Finance to “seek new funding”, which could result in a possible sale of the business.
Planet Retail analyst Paola Montealegre said: “The company has shown its commitment to overcome the difficult market. However, its plan to revitalise the business may not be enough to compete with new channels such as supermarkets and internet retailers.”
She added that another private equity firm could see a “possibility to transform its specialist focus into a wider-entertainment store” but that it would have to be “willing in this climate to increase its capacity in bricks and mortar and take on a proportion of possible debt”.
Borders, owned by Luke Johnson’s Risk Capital Partners, declined to comment.

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