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Bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. kicked off a process to auction leases of about 1,700 stores to avoid paying an estimated $7 million in rent next month, Reuters reported yesterday. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protections last week, filed a motion yesterday in bankruptcy court to approve the procedures for the sale of the leases. RadioShack had a tentative deal to sell as many as 2,400 of its 4,100 stores to an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General, one of its lenders and largest shareholders. But that agreement is subject to higher bids. As part of that deal, Sprint Corp. is working with Standard General to sell mobile devices as well as RadioShack products, services and accessories in at least 1,750 of those stores. RadioShack had received court approval on Monday to borrow $10 million to support operations until it opens the bidding for its best-performing stores.

RadioShack Corp. is looking for bankruptcy court approval to pay up to $3 million in bonuses to key employees as it races to liquidate half its stores and turn over the rest to the highest bidder at a coming auction, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Eight executives and up to 30 other employees are in line for the payouts, which the company says are essential to maximizing the sale price of the beleaguered company and to keeping people from leaving during the bankruptcy process. RadioShack filed for chapter 11 protection last week with plans to close up to 2,100 of its roughly 4,000 stores and keep the rest operating through a sale. Lender and shareholder Standard General LP offered to open bidding at a bankruptcy auction with a deal to acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 stores and partner with wireless operator Sprint Corp. to operate many of them.

RadioShack Corp.’s proposed bankruptcy financing cleared court yesterday as the retailer continues the process of racing to sell out and shut down some 1,100 stores by the end of the month, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Up to 2,100 RadioShack stores won’t survive the chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company has said. Going-out-of-business sales began Friday at more than 1,700 stores across the country as RadioShack began the process of trimming its collection of more than 4,000 outlets. Liquidators kicked off the process over the weekend by marking down merchandise, seeking to clear out stores as soon as possible so that new tenants can take over. A&G Realty Partners LLC yesterday started shopping around those leases to restaurants, shoe stores, jewelry shops and other retailers that would likely be in the market for a small-format location.

A bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a preliminary deal between Wet Seal Inc. and B. Riley & Co. despite spirited opposition from rival bidder Versa Capital Management LLC, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi signed off a modified deal proposing that B. Riley take 80 percent of the equity in a reorganized Wet Seal in exchange for $25 million, $5 million more than had initially been offered. The remaining 20 percent of the company would be set aside for unsecured creditors.

Women's retailer Cache Inc. hasn't given up hope on finding a buyer to keep its 218 stores alive, but in the meantime it is looking to secure bankruptcy court approval to begin store-closeout sales by early March, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. During the company's first appearance in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., yesterday, attorneys for Cache said that going-out-of-business sales would start March 4 under a current timeline if no bidders come forward to top an offer from a pair of liquidators. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath, who still has to approve the schedule, expressed some skepticism on Thursday at the direction the case is going. "Why am I authorizing a sale that's going to be complete in 30 days, when it appears nobody but the lender's going to get any money?" Judge Walrath asked. "We don't know that there won't be value," Cache attorney Laura Davis Jones of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP said, noting that while the company has been shopping itself around for some time, a buyer could still come forward.

Electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection yesterday and said that it had a deal in place to sell as many as 2,400 stores to an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General, its lender and largest shareholder, Reuters reported today. Wireless company Sprint Corp. would operate as many as 1,750 of those stores under an agreement with Standard General, Sprint said separately. RadioShack's bankruptcy, which has been expected for months, follows 11 consecutive unprofitable quarters as the company has failed to transform itself into a destination for mobile phone buyers. But its sale agreement with Standard General could spare it the fate most retailers suffer in chapter 11: liquidation. RadioShack said in a statement that the Standard General affiliate, called General Wireless, would acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 of its 4,100 stores. Sprint would occupy about one-third of each RadioShack store, selling "mobile devices across Sprint’s brand portfolio as well as RadioShack products, services and accessories," Sprint said. Other potential buyers will also have the opportunity to bid on RadioShack assets, pending court approval.

The newly formed Wet Seal Inc. creditors’ committee negotiated an increase in the clothing chain’s sale price and changes in financing for the company’s bankruptcy reorganization, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Wet Seal, a mall-based retailer catering to women 13 to 24, worked out a deal before its Jan. 15 bankruptcy filing that gives lender B. Riley Financial Inc. 80 percent of the stock in exchange for a $20 million investment. The remaining 20 percent was earmarked for unsecured creditors. The committee, formed Jan. 30, persuaded Riley, the parent of liquidator Great American Group LLC, to raise the purchase price to $25 million.

RadioShack Corp. is preparing to shut down the almost-century-old retail chain in a bankruptcy deal that would sell about half its store leases to Sprint Corp. and close the rest, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The locations sold to Sprint would operate under the wireless carrier’s name, meaning RadioShack would cease to exist as a stand-alone retailer. The Chinese backers who took the Brookstone chain out of bankruptcy, Sanpower Group, also have been in discussions about bidding for RadioShack assets. The New York Stock Exchange said yesterday that it would suspend trading of the RadioShack’s stock immediately. The exchange took the step after RadioShack failed to submit a business plan that would address its lack of compliance with NYSE rules. 

Cache Inc., the women’s clothing chain known for helping popularize Armani and Versace designs in the U.S., is planning to liquidate the company after filing for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The retailer has sought bids for firms that can help shut down all its stores and sell assets in a bankruptcy. A liquidation would add Cache to the ranks of other mall-based retailers that have ceased operations since the end of last year, including Delia’s Inc., Deb Stores and Body Central. Unlike those chains, Cache is based in more upscale shopping centers, many of which are still thriving. Still, the company faces pressure from e-commerce sites and fast-fashion rivals such as Hennes & Mauritz AB, which offer a cheaper alternative.

Hedge fund Standard General LP is in talks to serve as the lead bidder at a bankruptcy auction for struggling consumer-electronics retailer RadioShack Corp., the Wall Street Journal reported today. RadioShack, which is running out of cash after reporting losses in each of the last 11 quarters, was aiming to file for chapter 11 protection as early as today. But as of yesterday, the company and its advisers were still working out the details of an agreement with Standard General to serve as the stalking-horse bid at a court-supervised auction for RadioShack’s assets. Standard General last year became the company’s largest shareholder and led a financing that helped RadioShack get through the holidays.