Sears Bankruptcy Update: Company Has One Last Chance For Survival Before Liquidation

Sears (SHLDQ) may have one last chance for survival if Chairman Eddie Lampert comes through with a revised bid by late Wednesday.

The company is facing liquidation of approximately 425 stores and 50,000 employees.

With a bid deadline of 4 p.m. EST, Lampert is anticipated to revise his offer through his hedge fund ESL Investments. His initial bid of $4.4 billion was rejected as being insufficient based on a shortcoming of administrative expenses and $1.8 million in debt owed to ESL, CNBC reported.

If Lampert’s proposal is not accepted by Sears advisors, the company will head to liquidation. In order for Lambert’s bid to be considered, he must place a $120 million deposit. Nearly $18 million of that deposit would be nonrefundable, USA Today reported.

Sears is slated for auction of all company assets on Monday, which ESL has not yet qualified for. At this time, Lampert’s offer will be compared against other liquidators. If the bid is accepted, it will need to receive approval from the bankruptcy court.

ESL released a statement about the bid to save Sears to the Associated Press saying, “ESL appreciates the encouragement from the court and the constructive engagement of the debtors as we work to formalize our going concern proposal so that it can be evaluated at the upcoming auction.

“As we have said before, our proposal provides substantially more value to stakeholders than would be the case in liquidation and is the only option to save an iconic American retailer and up to 50,000 jobs.

“We believe in Sears and will continue to do everything we can to ensure that it has a profitable future.”

As of this afternoon, Sears stock was up over 5.5 percent.