Good evening,

It’s time for a new chapter at Booktopia, the ASX-listed book retailer that collapsed into administration last week after failing to secure emergency financing.

Expressions of interest are due on Thursday, with McGrathNicol hoping to sell or recapitalise the business, which was once a sharemarket darling. Firm offers for the company are due next Tuesday, according to sources close to these discussions.

As previously reported by Street Talk, Brisbane-based QBD Books is a potential suitor, as is online retailer Kogan.com, which also snapped up the rights to Dick Smith Electronics′ brand after the then ASX-listed retailer was liquidated in 2016.

Then there’s digiDirect, a consumer electronics retailer that has expanded from selling cameras to audiovisual technology, computers, drones and other products. It has engaged PwC to advise it on a potential purchase, and brought in several former senior Booktopia staff to work out how the book retailer could fit with its own business.

Dymocks is also understood to be interested in Booktopia’s assets, as first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald last week – although it is not interested in the brand. Fair to say, the administration proceedings are turning into a quite well-attended book party.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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