March 30 (Reuters) - Bankrupt regional department store chain Bon-Ton Stores Inc is in active discussions with a bidder to acquire the company, and had received approval from lenders to extend the deadline for submitting bids for the chain, it said on Friday.

The company said it had received approval to extend the deadline for submitting qualified bids by two days to April 4.

The store chain filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure its debt and explore a potential sale last month, and plans to hold an auction for sale of the company on April 9.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru Editing by Susan Thomas)