Reuters reports that Borders has had strong interest in the planned sale of its Australian and New Zealand operations from trade and private equity firms, sale advisors KPMG said on Monday. KPMG corporate finance executive director Luke Lawrentschuck said an information memorandum will be sent out by the end of July and the sale would probably take three or four months to complete, adding that Australia and NZ stores are “performing very well.”
Borders said in March it would consider selling most of its overseas stores as it focuses on its loss-making U.S. operations. Its losses widened in the three months to May 5, with U.S. comparable store sales down 1.9 percent and sales down 2.5 percent in its UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand operations. Borders has 20 stores in Australian and four in New Zealand, with three more due to open by the end of the year.