Syms, Filene's Basement look to sell intellectual property at auction

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, March 23 - Filene's Basement, LLC and Syms Corp. requested court approval of the bid procedures for the proposed sale of their intellectual property, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Filene's Basement and Syms are also seeking court approval to enter into one or more stalking horse agreements in connection with the asset sale.

Under the bid procedures, the companies can enter into one or more stalking horse bids at any time before the May 3 auction.

If any stalking horse bidders are not the high bidders for the assets they are purchasing, the debtors will pay them a 3% breakup fee and reimburse up to $25,000 of their sale-related expenses.

The intellectual property assets include all of the debtors' worldwide trademarks, including more than 40 registered U.S. trademarks and foreign and state registered marks; more than 70 internet domain names; a perpetual, royalty-free license agreement with Macy's for the Filene's Basement trademark; and all of the debtors' customer information databases.

The debtors said the IP assets were used in both the Syms and Filene's Basement retail operations.

In addition to the retail name marks, the Syms-related assets include house brands, including Stanley Blacker and Maine Bay. The Filene's Basement IP assets include trademarks and intellectual property related to the Running of the Brides event.

Bids are due by 4 p.m. ET on May 1 and must include a deposit equal to the greater of 10% of the bid and $50,000 for each of the assets or package of assets to be purchased.

The Filene's Basement debtors said they ceased retail operations at all of their stores as of Dec. 31 and have rejected all of their leased retail store and distribution center locations.

The companies said they are in the process of negotiating a joint plan of reorganization, which they plan to file by April 10.

The bidding procedures hearing is scheduled for April 10, and the sale hearing will be held on May 10.

Syms, a Secaucus, N.J.-based off-price clothing retailer, filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 2 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, along with wholly owned subsidiary Filene's Basement. The joint Chapter 11 case number is 11-13511.

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