Lawyers trying to sell California’s Metropolitan Automotive Warehouse Inc., which fell into bankruptcy after saying that it lost money expanding its online auto parts sales, want a bankruptcy judge to set a March 4 bid deadline for potential buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Metropolitan Automotive Warehouse officials told Judge Wayne E. Johnson in court papers that several buyers are interested in purchasing the Los Angeles-area company out of bankruptcy at an auction. The company, combined with affiliate Star Auto Parts Inc., employs about 1,000 people. Metropolitan Automotive Warehouse officials didn’t say how much buyers were offering to pay but proposed to reveal the value of the auction’s opening bid by Feb. 12. One offer is expected to come from New York-based Parts Authority Inc., which called itself one of the largest distributors of automotive and truck parts on the East Coast in a document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, Calif.
