Hedge fund Standard General LP will lead the bidding at a bankruptcy auction of 1,700 or more RadioShack stores, as the electronics retailer tries to save some of its struggling business, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon yesterday approved rules for a March 23 competition over the part of RadioShack’s business that has been marked for a turnaround effort, roughly half the 4,000-store chain. Standard General won the role of opening bidder after making concessions to creditors. A big lender and big shareholder of RadioShack, Standard General has said it would operate co-branded stores-within-a-store with Sprint. That will ensure the reorganized business will get the benefit of traffic from customers of cellphone services, without the drag on profits that hurt RadioShack’s business, Standard General says.
