P.M. BRIEFING : Bloomingdale’s May Not Be Sold

More than four months after putting Bloomingdale’s on the auction block, officials for Federated Department Stores Inc. are now contemplating calling off the sale of the 17-store high-fashion chain, it was reported today.

According to unidentified sources quoted in the New York Times, Federated has received at least three bids for tony Bloomingdale’s, but “most” were below Federated’s $1-billion-plus asking price.

Federated is studying whether “there would be more value . . . by retaining Bloomingdale’s or by selling it,” spokeswoman Carol Sanger said.

Federated is Bloomingdale’s parent and the American holding company of Campeau Corp., the troubled Canadian retailer that sought protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Code on Jan. 15 for Federated and its sister U.S. retailing chain, Allied Stores Corp.

Campeau had set a February deadline for selling the 17-store chain.