A bankruptcy judge on Monday approved the schedule for other parties to bid on the assets of The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., and two vendor groups are reportedly putting together offers to buy a portion of the business.
According to David Wander, an attorney at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP in New York who is representing two vendors in the case, there are two vendor groups organizing bids to buy many of Bon-Ton’s assets. Wander represents Ruff Hewn and an Asian factory, neither of which are involved in the bids.
“I’m told that we have two vendor groups that are doing their due diligence, and what the creditors committee council has pointed out that there are 150 to 175 stores that if you just took them, you’d have a good business and you’d have an EBITDA of $100 million,” Wander said.
It’s not clear which assets the vendor groups would buy, but they would likely keep a portion of the stores open, he said.
“Hopefully it will result in an offer, or more than one,” Wander said. “Right now, I’m cautiously optimistic.”
The deadline to submit a bid is April 2, and objections to the sale must be submitted by April 9. An auction of the assets will take place April 9, according to court documents.
The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., the parent company of Boston Store, has dual headquarters in Milwaukee and York, Pennsylvania. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.
