It’s official: Sears isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.
Edward S. Lampert and his hedge fund ESL Investment said Thursday that ESL’s affiliate Transform Holdco LLC won the auction to buy Sears for $5.2 billion.
The proposed deal includes all of Sears Holdings’ assets and will fund some severance costs incurred by Sears during bankruptcy, reinstate severance benefits for eligible employees in the company, extend customer warranties for products bought pre-bankruptcy and preserve relationships with vendors.
“We are pleased to have reached a deal that would provide a path for Sears to emerge from the Chapter 11 process,” the restructuring committee of the board said in prepared remarks.
Negotiations for the retailer began Monday, when the bankruptcy auction kicked off. Lampert, who is Sears’ chairman and served as chief executive officer of the company before it filed for bankruptcy protection in October, bid $4.4 billion for the company in December. But creditors said that amount wouldn’t even cover administrative costs.
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He then upped his bid to $5 billion, then $5.2 billion.
Meanwhile, others were pushing to liquidate and sell off all assets, reasoning this was the fastest way for creditors to get their money back. But Lampert and his team said dissolving Sears would also cause the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.
The new deal will save 45,000 jobs, out of the company’s roughly 68,000 positions the company had supported when it filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 15.
However, the retailer isn’t completely in the clear. The deal needs to be approved by the bankruptcy judge at the Feb. 1 hearing.
If the deal is approved, representatives from ESL said the transaction should be finalized about a week later.
“ESL has been steadfast in its commitment to Sears because we believe that its emergence from Chapter 11 as a going concern is the best path for the company, its associates and the many communities touched by Sears and Kmart stores,” a statement from ESL said. “At every stage in this process, ESL has worked tirelessly to help Sears reemerge from bankruptcy, including by enhancing our offer several times, because we believe Sears has a future as a profitable company that can succeed in today’s competitive retail landscape.
“We have been fortunate to have the support of our financial partners, as well as that of many associates, vendors and Shop Your Way members, and we thank them for helping to save Sears and Kmart. We now look forward to concluding the bankruptcy process as soon as possible and doing the hard work of putting this iconic American retailer on a path to sustainable success,” the statement said.
The company’s stock, which closed at 50 cents on Tuesday, jumped to 74 cents Wednesday after rumors of the possible sale began to swirl. Shares closed at 70 cents a piece on Thursday following the official announcement. Still, the stock has plunged more than 90 percent in the last year.
But Steve Dennis, founder and president of SageBerry Consulting, an advisory firm focused on retail and luxury, said the latest agreement is just delaying the inevitable: liquidation.
“There is nothing relevant and remarkable at Sears any longer,” said Dennis, who has gone so far as to call the department store “a dead brand walking.”
“They’re done,” he said. “At this point I don’t believe there is anything Sears can do to survive in any meaningful way.”
He added that Lampert has had 15 years to return Sears to its iconic status of America’s biggest retailer and has failed to do so. And closing so many stores — more than 260 closures have been revealed in just a few months, what Dennis dubbed “the world’s longest liquidation sale” — makes the company less valuable to investors and an inconvenience to shoppers.
“Any hope of a turnaround would require massive investment, which nobody is crazy enough to do,” Dennis said.