Borders war? Bids for chain loom
Newspaper reports several private equity firms could make offers for the book and music retailer.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - A number of large buy-out groups are considering making bids for book and music chain Borders, according to a news report on Thursday.

Several private equity firms, including Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital, Apollo Management and Leonard Green Partners, have held discussions with banks regarding funding for a purchase of the Michigan-based chain, The Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Insiders expect any bids to value the company at more than $25 a share, or nearly $1.8 billion, the newspaper said. Shares of Borders (Research) closed at $22.41 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The buy-out groups have been waiting for holiday results from Borders to decide whether to proceed with offers, according to the newspaper.

On Wednesday, Borders posted strong sales, saying same-store sales at its U.S. sites rose 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter. The company also said its fourth-quarter earnings would be at the higher end of a previously forecast range.

The robust sales from Borders could lead the buy-out firms to raise their bids, the report said. But it added that Borders might be less willing to sell, given the encouraging results.

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.