It’s no surprise to hear Sears Holdings is doing everything in their power to avoid going under. Recently they’ve closed low-performing stores, and invested more time and money into higher-achieving establishments as a reactive measure. However the CEO Eddie Lampert is making the biggest push yet to restructure the company to avoid going bankrupt. Lampert has been trimming costs to keep debt at bay and the company afloat. If Sears Holdings fails to cut costs, they will be starring at a $134 million payment on Oct. 15. Lampert has been working close with ESL Investments – their hedge fund – to work restructure liabilities. If this works, the board could sell off $1.75 billion in assets and remain only $1.24 billion in debt. This would reduce their debt by almost 80 percent. That and on top of selling $1.5 billion worth of property for former retail locations, to generate liquidity to pay off more debt.
A significant restructuring tactic is Sears selling the Kenmore appliance brand and Craftsman. But will this be enough to lower debt, keep customers happy and allow Sears to climb out of their debt? This may be a way just to delay the inevitable, however per our last posting – E-commerce Comes Back To Help Brick And Mortar – there are lessons to learn from the e-commerce leaders. If Sears Holdings adopts the instant gratification model and creates hassle-free experiences online shopping involves, they could potentially see an increase in traffic.
It is unclear whether Sears’s debtholders will continue to support these efforts, or if they will recommend the company close its doors.
Read the full CNBC article here.
