Sports Authority Inc. pushed back the planned bankruptcy auction from April 25 to May 16 amid “substantial” interest from several potential bidders. A report from Reuters also indicated that both Dick's Sporting Goods and Academy Sports have submitted letters of interest to buy some of the assets of Sports Authority in the auction.
Modell's Sporting Goods is also interested in some assets of Sports Authority, sources told Reuters.
On Thursday, Sports Authority gained court approval to extend the deadline for bids into late May. The bulk of Sports Authority's assets, from its stores to its intellectual property and website, are on the block. The Wall Street Journal reports that leases for 109 stores being closed go on the auction block May 4 while an auction for the remainder of Sports Authority’s assets is set for May 16.
Ivan Gold, lawyer for a group of landlords, told the Journal that some stores going up for sale could be sold as a going concern, while others may be picked off singly or in groups by liquidators. Combined bids could also involve new operators to take over the premises and liquidators purchasing the inventory.
The Journal noted that the interest from bidders isn’t a sign that all or most of Sports Authority’s business will survive bankruptcy. Liquidation firms sometimes best rivals that promise to keep stores open.
In a separate issue, an article in Law360 indicated that the court denied a Sports Authority lender agent’s bid for an emergency halt to the company’s Chapter 11 vendor payments for sales of consigned goods. The judge said there was no threat of irreparable harm to the lenders and no solid ground for the appeal.
