Borders Ends Negotiations to Sell Company

Borders Group Inc. said it ended talks to sell the company and will explore other ways to boost its shares, such as buying back stock. The book retailer didn’t name the groups it had held talks with. Buyout firms Bain Capital, Apollo Management and Blackstone Group were considering bids, people familiar with the proposed sale said last month. Borders hired Merrill Lynch & Co. in March to help boost its stock, which had fallen from a peak of $41.75 in July 1998. “It’s disappointing that the buyers were not willing to meet the price management wanted,” said Fred Speece of Speece Thorson Capital Group, which owns about 500,000 shares. “Now the company will just have to deliver earnings that will cause the stock to reach its proper valuation.” The stock should trade at about $20 a share, Speece said. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders’ shares fell $2.06, or 14%, to close at $13.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.