Season’s beatings
Battered Sears fights to survive holidays
Sears needs more cash — and more time to get it.
The 125-year-old retailer — which is quickly chewing through the $300 million in financing it got when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month — is pleading for more time to scare up extra funds to get it through the holidays, The Post has learned.
Specifically, Sears is seeking to push back a Nov. 1 court hearing on a second $300 million loan — a socalled debtor-in-possession loan — to Nov. 8, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Post.
Money manager Eddie Lampert — who stepped down as CEO of Sears when it filed for bankruptcy but is still its chairman — is willing to contribute to the loan through his hedge fund ESL Investments. But finding other investors is taking lon- ger than expected, sources said.
“If it were so easy, folks would line up to participate in the loan,” said one restructuring expert who did not want to be identified.
The clock is ticking for Sears, which secured the first $300 million loan earlier this month from a group of lenders, including Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
But Sears expects to burn through $220 million in the first month of its bankruptcy, court documents show.
Lampert, who is Sears’ largest shareholder and its chairman, will likely tell the newly formed creditor committee that there are conditions on the second loan, according to bankruptcy attorney Kenneth Rosen of Lowenstein Sandler.
“He could say to them that he wants to be released from any risk of litigation if he puts up the extra cash,” Rosen said.
Sears shares on Wednesday got delisted from Nasdaq for not meeting the minimum requirement of trading above $1 for 30 consecutive days. Its shares are now being traded over the counter under the symbol SHLDQ.
“The transition does not affect our operations and does not change reporting requirements under SEC rules,” the company said in a statement.