when will we hear?, page-2

They will now go to binding offers with the top bidders.

For binding offers the buyers will want to do a whole lot more due diligence getting right down to nitty-gritty detail on personnel remuneration and structure as well as detailed store inventories, lease agreements, property valuations and detailed business system integration plans etc (the buyers will want time to do the due diligence and ELD will want to move). I expect the the next round to take at the very least 6 weeks (mid feb) and more likely 8 weeks. I would expect by March they will have a deadline for binding offers and will announce a winning bidder within a week or two after that.

If the indicative offers were substantially below a theoretical reserve price I would expect they would have called off the sales process by now.....in that regard no announcement is mildly encouraging IMO.