The three months are up for Indigo Books and Music Inc. to sell the 23 stores—13 superstores and 10 mall stores—that the Competition Bureau required the chain to divest as a condition for its approval of Indigo's merger with Chapters Inc. Although several buyers expressed interest in the stores, including some who were already involved in the book business and some outsiders, Indigo was unable to complete a deal. As of September 8, the sale of the stores was turned over to an independent trustee, Peter Farkas, of Richter and Partners.
Robert Lancop, assistant deputy commissioner of the Competition Bureau's mergers branch, was optimistic that the stores could be sold. "We are very confident that the trustee will sell the stores, or a number of them for sure," Lancop told PW, adding that interested buyers who could not secure a deal with Indigo previously are free to renegotiate with the trustee. "We would like to see all the stores sold.... From our way of thinking it is very possible that someone could buy all the stores, or we could have a situation where somebody buys the eastern group of stores and somebody else buys the western group of stores. I think there's a number of options that are possible here."
Not all industry insiders are as optimistic, including Nicholas Hoare, of Nicholas Hoare Books. "I think the opportunity is there, but I think that there is not going to be too much excitement. The market, once bitten, twice shy, so my personal view is that you're not going to see very much action on that front at all. I think we are paying lip service to what social expectations are rather than corporate ones."
