A deal is in the works to sell Milwaukee- and York, Pennsylvania-based The Bon Ton Stores Inc. to Merillville, Indiana-based CSC Generation Holdings Inc., according to a USA Today report.
CSC is a technology company that owns e-commerce sites DirectBuy, Killion, leaseco and DirectBuy Leasing. A spokesman for CSC declined to comment on the USA Today report, which indicates some Bon-Ton stores could reopen in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Colorado and Pennsylvania.
The bankrupt Bon-Ton, which is the parent company of Boston Store, Herberger’s, Younker’s and several other department store brands nationwide, shuttered all its stores last week. But on Aug. 31, the day the stores were shut down, a banner message appeared on the company’s websites announcing a comeback.
“We’ve got great news. Boston Store is coming back!” the sites say. “Stay tuned for updates over the coming weeks! We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to being able to serve you again soon.”
A joint venture between Los Angeles-based Great American Group, New York-based Tiger Capital Group and a group of Bon-Ton debtholders bought The Bon-Ton Stores out of bankruptcy in April, and then began to liquidate the company.
In response to inquiries from BizTimes last week, Great American Group confirmed that the Bon-Ton intellectual property is in the process of being sold, and that the name of the buyer would be disclosed once the sale was final.
There is no information about CSC in the Bon-Ton bankruptcy case filings.
Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy in February. The company’s management sought to find a buyer that would continue operating the business. A group of mall owners and a private equity firm signed a letter of intent to potentially buy the business and keep it afloat, but a bankruptcy judge denied the payment of a work fee to help the deal move forward. The buyer group opposed the payment of the fee, arguing the bid procedures and case law didn’t allow for it.
After the deal fell through, the only remaining bidders were proposing to liquidate the company and the Great American/Tiger group won out. According to court documents, the group agreed to a deal worth $793.6 million for Bon-Ton’s assets.
