Forward Motions: Revel Auction Resumes Tuesday

The search for buyers for the empty Revel Casino Hotel will begin again on Tuesday.

Bankruptcy lawyers will reopen the auction, which was cut short last week in observance of a Jewish holiday, at 9 a.m. at a Manhattan law firm’s office.

The 47-story-tall resort, which cost $2.4 billion to build, is expected to sell for a small fraction of that. Florida real estate developer Glenn Straub, for example, has offered $90 million in cash.

Rival bidders could include Richard Meruelo, whose family invests in real estate and unsuccessfully bid on the nearby Trump Plaza casino.

The top bid will need approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gloria Burns.

The casino and hotel shut its doors early this month after it couldn’t find a buyer to help it avoid its second bankruptcy since opening in 2012. Prior to shutting down, Revel had employed more than 3,000 people, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, N.J.

Children’s clothing chain Naartjie Custom Kids Inc. plans to pick a liquidator next week to run going-out-of-business sales at the company’s 55 U.S. stores.

In earlier court papers, lawyers for the 595-employee company say they have an offer from liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC to conduct the sales for the retailer, which makes children’s clothing, accessories and shoes for newborns through tweens that embrace bright, colorful designs.

The duo has offered to pay Naartjie between $5.44 million and $6 million—80% of the cost value of the company’s remaining merchandise—subject to closing adjustments. Under their proposed timeline, going-out-of-business sales would run from early October until mid-January.

Bankruptcy lawyers are proposing to hold an Oct. 2 auction in case a competitor wants to challenge that offer to run the sales.

U.S. Bankruptcy William T. Thurman is expected to make a final decision on who will run the sales at a hearing in Salt Lake City, where the company’s headquarters are located, on Friday.

Naartjie, founded in South Africa in 1989, said its financial troubles were exacerbated by an expansion between 2008 and 2010 in which it opened more than 10 new stores per year.

The company’s stores in South Africa will not run going-out-of business sales under the current proposal.

On Friday, bankruptcy lawyers for Associated Wholesalers Inc. will ask a Delaware judge to set an Oct. 22 deadline for buyers who want to make an offer for the food distributor, which stocks the shelves of grocery store chains throughout the mid-Atlantic.

Officials at the Robesonia, Pa.-based company, which filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 9, already have an offer from C&S Wholesale Grocers. That offer isn’t a fixed cash purchase price but includes a maximum cash purchase price of about $170.1 million and a promise to extend an $18 million bankruptcy loan, according to a group of Associated Wholesalers creditors who are monitoring the case.

Grocery store chain Supervalu Inc. said in documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., that it plans to put in an offer too. Lawyers said they are prepared to hold an Oct. 24 auction if they get multiple formal offers.

The proposed timeline for bidding needs approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey.

In earlier court papers, Associated Wholesalers officials blamed the company’s financial difficulties on its 2006 acquisition of White Rose brand of food products, which dates back to the late 1800s. Profits for the rest of Associated Wholesalers’ business lines have also fallen in recent years.

Associated Wholesalers distributes meat, produce, dairy and other food products, as well as cigarettes and health and beauty products, to 800 supermarkets, specialty stores, and convenience stores. It has two warehouses in Pennsylvania.

The company employs about 2,240 people, almost half of whom belong to a union.

-Tom Corrigan and Sara Randazzo contributed to this article.

Write to Katy Stech at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatyStech.