Sears Holdings CEO Offers To Buy Kenmore And Other Units

(RTTNews) - Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) Chief Executive officer Edward Lampert offers to buy the Kenmore appliance brand and other Sears units after the company was unable to find other buyers for the assets.

Lampert, through his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc., which currently owns a controlling stake in the retailer, said in a letter to the Sears board that ESL is willing to buy Sears' home-improvement business and its Parts Direct business and is willing to submit a proposal to buy Kenmore.

"In our view, pursuing these divestitures now will demonstrate the value of Sears' portfolio of assets, will provide an important source of liquidity to Sears and could avoid any deterioration in the value of such assets," Lampert wrote.

ESL also said it could offer to buy Sears' real estate, including the $1.2 billion in debt associated with it. Sears could then lease the stores to keep running them.