Borders UK hires Clearwater to advise on sale options
Luke Johnson poised to exit his investment in chain
By James Thompson reporting in The INdependent, Thursday, 4 June 2009

Borders UK, the bookseller backed by the entrepreneur Luke Johnson, has appointed a corporate finance house to conduct a potential sale of the 51-store business.
The bookseller, which operates the Borders and Book etc fascias, has hired Clearwater Corporate Finance to run any sale, although a sales memorandum has not yet been sent out. The appointment is the clearest signal yet that the Channel 4 chairman Mr Johnson – whose private equity house Risk Capital Partners acquired Borders UK for £20m in 2007 – is poised to offload the struggling bookseller. Market sources said that Borders UK, which is believed to be loss-making, could be sold for a nominal sum.

Borders UK declined to comment on speculation that it would be put up for sale, but a spokeswoman confirmed it had appointed an adviser to "seek out funding opportunities". She added: "We will be keeping our staff and suppliers fully appraised of this activity."
Borders UK is also still working with RSM Bentley, a restructuring company, which has looked at offloading its underperforming larger stores in out-of-town retail parks, as revealed by The Independent last month. Borders UK has also made a series of redundancies over the past year.

However, a sale of Borders UK could be complicated by the fact that Paperchase, the stationery chain, still has a substantial concession presence in its stores. Paperchase, which also has standalone stores, is still owned by the bookseller's troubled former US parent, Borders. Bankers appointed to sell Paperchase last year were unable to find a buyer.

Link here to The Independent online for the rest of the story.