Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Sears Holdings still 'not dead yet' as deadline extended for rescue offer


I told my readers to "Stay tuned" as "I'll have more tomorrow on Fast Eddie Lamprey's rescue effort, regardless of how it turns out" at the conclusion of Sears Holdings announces 80 more stores closing while company on verge of liquidation.  I was expecting that CNBC would have the final word in Sears plans to liquidate after after 126 years in business.

Sears Holdings has rejected Chairman Eddie Lampert’s bid to save the 126-year-old company, setting the storied retailer with more than 50,000 employees on a path to liquidation, people familiar with the situation told CNBC on Tuesday. Sears, which also owns Kmart, planned to announce its liquidation plans Tuesday morning, the people said.
That's not yet to be, as Wochit News reported soon after that Millionaire Chairman With Hopes To Save Sears Is Revising Offer.

Sears Holdings Corp agreed on Tuesday to consider a revised takeover bid from a billionaire. Chairman Edward Lampert could temporarily stave off a liquidation, reports Reuters.com. The liquidation in question would have ended the 126-year-old U.S. department-store chain. Lampert’s latest attempt to rescue Sears came after his previous $4.4 billion bid fell short. This prompted the retailer to make liquidation preparations ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing in New York.

An attorney for Sears states Lampert is expected to submit a revised offer and a $120 million deposit. Sears will weigh Lampert’s offer against a proposed liquidation during a Jan. 14 bankruptcy auction. Should Lampert’s offer falter again, he will forfeit more than $17 million from his deposit to Sears creditors.
Unless Fast Eddie Lamprey misses making his deposit today, that means there likely won't be any news until Monday, which means I probably won't write any more on this story until Tuesday.  Even then, I am not optimistic his offer will win out over the other bids in the bankruptcy auction or succeed in keeping Sears and KMart open until the end of the year.  I fully expect to write a series of obituary posts for both chains, just as I did for Toys R Us.

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