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Bookseller Borders has had strong interest in the planned sale of its Australian and New Zealand operations from trade and private equity firms, says sale advisers KPMG.
KPMG corporate finance executive director Luke Lawrentschuck said an information memorandum would be sent out by the end of July and the sale would probably take three or four months to complete.
"It has attracted a lot of interest from parties in Australia and overseas, including trade and private equity," Lawrentschuck said, adding that Borders' Austral transtasman operations were performing very well.
Borders, the second-largest US bookstore chain, said in March it would consider selling most of its overseas stores as it focuses on its loss-making US operations.
Its losses widened in the three months to May 5, with US sales down 1.9 per cent and sales down 2.5 per cent in its UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand operations.
Borders has 20 stores in Australia and four in New Zealand, with three more to open by the end of the year.
For the year to February, international sales were A$650 million ($727 million), with Britain and Ireland worth 70 per cent of that.
- NZPA
