Eddie Lampert Eyes Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores

Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores (Hoffman Estates, Ill.), a spin-off concept of Sears (Hoffman Estates, Ill.), recently received a bid from Transform Holdco (Hoffman Estates, Ill.), a company owned by former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert. He created the privately held company when he bought Sears out of bankruptcy last February, according to WWD. The recent bid was to acquire the retailer’s remaining shares.

The Sears Hometown & Outlet concept was originally launched in 2012 in a move to try and increase profitability of Sears Hometown stores and Sears Outlet stores nationwide. Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores were not part of the Sears bankruptcy filing by Sears Holding Corp.

Lampert already owns 58 percent of Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores through his hedge fund ESL Investments (Bay Harbor Islands, Fla.). His reported proposal price is $2.25 a share for the Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores common stock.