According to numerous reports, Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings is planning to bid for as many as 80 percent of Gander Mountain’s stores, say sources close to the action. Sportsman’s Warehouse is still deciding whether it would keep the Gander Mountain name on those locations or run them under its own brand.
Gander Mountain filed for bankruptcy on March 10. Gordon Brothers and Hilco Merchant Resources agreed to act as opening bidders in a late-April auction “to facilitate a seamless sale of the company as a going concern,” Gander Mountain said on March 30. The company said at the time that it was still in talks “with a number of interested parties.”
Gander Mountain brought in Gordon and Hilco to conduct going-out-of-business sales at all its stores if no buyer comes forward to save the chain, according to court documents. Gordon and Hilco have guaranteed that if they sell all the merchandise in its stores and warehouses, Gander Mountain will collect 91 percent of the wholesale cost of the items, which was estimated at $390 million to $430 million. If a going-concern buyer wins the auction, the liquidators would collect a $2 million breakup fee.
Under the auction rules, a going-concern bidder will have the option to buy some or all of Gander Mountain’s stores. For every store taken over by such a buyer, Gander Mountain’s recovery under the agreement with Gordon and Hilco would go down.
