Bed Bath & Beyond splitting up auction of its Buy Buy Baby chain

Bed bath and others The retailer is splitting the auction of its Buy Buy Baby chain in receivership into two phases as the retailer struggles to secure bids in what is currently a doubtful sale.

All of Buy Buy Baby’s assets were scheduled to go to auction at 10am on Wednesday. Bids are now being accepted only for the chain’s intellectual property, including trademarks and domain names, according to people familiar with the matter.

The defunct home furnishings retailer plans to hold a separate auction on Thursday where buyers can submit bids to keep Buy Buy Baby and its stores afloat, people familiar with the matter said. matter.

An initial winner may be chosen in an intellectual property auction on Wednesday. This bidder and other bidders can participate in the second auction. If Bed Bath receives a higher bid for the entire banner than for the intellectual property, that bidder could be selected and replace the winner of Wednesday’s auction, the people said.

The retailer held separate sales procedures for its “Buy Buy Baby” and “Bed Bath & Beyond” banners before deciding to bid separately.

The series of moves is considered unusual in the bankruptcy world, but Bed Bath was able to boost bids for its Buy Buy Baby chain amid growing doubts about what offers, if any, would be made, some of the people said.

The banner, which sells baby accessories such as strollers, clothes and cribs, has long been considered the crown jewel of Bed Bath properties. It has attracted interest from numerous bidders both before and after its parent company declared bankruptcy. Some potential buyers considered keeping the store open.

But as the auction looms, interest in keeping the stores alive has waned, with retailers struggling to secure bids amid an increasingly uncertain sales process, some people familiar with the matter said.

Bidders interested in acquiring Buy Buy Baby as a going concern and operating its brick-and-mortar stores and online business would need to buy most of its more than 100 stores to be profitable.

The costs of running the store, such as rent, overhead, and wages, would be difficult to turn a profit if buyers purchased only a fraction of Buy Buy Baby’s merchandise and its intellectual property.

“It’s just 10 or 40 stores that don’t make a profit,” a person familiar with the matter previously told CNBC.

Bed Bath did not respond to a request for comment.

The credit bid from pre-bankruptcy lender Sixth Street Partners, which may partner with the e-commerce platform, is considered the top contender, some of the people said. It was not immediately clear whether the offer would extend beyond intellectual property assets. Sixth Street did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Go Global Retail, which owns children’s clothing brand Janie and Jack, initially intended to keep Buy Buy Baby stores open, but the number of stores it intends to keep has been reduced to about 20, if any, CNBC previously reported. The report said.

CEO Natalie Gordon previously told CNBC that Babylist, a direct-to-consumer online registry, had submitted a bid to acquire some of Buy Buy Baby’s assets, such as the domain name and trademark, but opted not to participate in its store. bid.

Earlier this month, Overstock.com won the auction of the Bed Bath & Beyond assets and bought the intellectual property and digital assets of the banner for $21.5 million. The digital retailer did not agree to buy any of Bed Bath’s stores.