Doug Mataconis · · 15 comments

The Borders Books bankruptcy case hasn’t been going well, mostly because they’ve been unable to find a buyer willing and able to buy the company as a going concern:

Borders’ bid deadline passed Sunday without any offers to keep the U.S.’s second-largest bookstore chain alive, so the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company moves closer to liquidation.

The company still has slim hope, however, as the Wall Street Journal reports Monday that Borders was in discussions late Sunday with Books-A-Million for some sort of deal. Books-A-Million is based in Birmingham, Alabama, operating 231 stores in 23 states.

But it’s not likely those discussions, or others being entertained at the last minute by Borders, will keep the majority of the chain’s 400 stores open, even if some sort of deal is reached.

Likely Borders, which employs 11,000, is working at the last minute to salvage some a partial solution, allowing some of its prime stores among the company’s 259 superstores to be salvaged, reopening under another brand, like Books-A-Million, while the Borders brand completely closes.

Borders had set a deadline for 5 p.m. Sunday for offers as the company navigates through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, trying to avoid liquidation, but no offers were obtained. The company could still pull together a last minute deal, however, but it must do so in less than two days, as liquidation looms.

Should Borders fail in finding a bidder, Barnes and Noble would be left as America’s only remaining true national chain.

Borders had appeared in the past two week to find a purchaser, but private-equity investor Najafi Co.’s $215 million offer for Borders is no longer on the table. The company’s head, Jahm Najafi, told Bloomberg through e-mail response his company would not participate in the auction. Najafi’s bid faced opposition in bankruptcy court from creditors who feared his company planned only to liquidate Borders.

Najafi says he tried to remove a clause in his offer allowing him to liquidate Borders to satisfy creditors by working with large U.S. publishers to get satisfactory shipping terms for new product, but at least one would not agree, and Najafi says he hs backed off completely — leaving Borders facing liquidation if another buyer is not found immediately.