As Borders-watchers know, the victorious bidder at the September 14 auction for Borders’s intellectual property was Barnes & Noble, which put in a winning bid of $13.9 million for rights to just about every part of the world except the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia.
At the hearing on September 30, all the licenses closed, except for the one for Singapore, which was originally to have gone to Popular Holdings Limited based on its $100,000 bid. On September 26, however, Popular withdrew its bid and asked for its $55,000 deposit to be returned. Instead Borders claimed $54,972 for damages caused by Popular’s actions and solicited new bids. Malaysian bookseller, Berjaya Books, agreed to purchase Singapore rights for $100,000.
At Thurday’s Borders hearing, U.S. bankruptcy court Judge Martin Glenn will have to rule on the latest twist in a bankruptcy case that has been filled with them, because Popular wants the license after all and has filed to compel Borders to comply with the September auction. Borders, however, wants to go with Berjaya, which doubled its offer to $200,000, when Popular indicated it wanted to take the Borders name, again.
