Sears confirms Lampert victory in bankruptcy auction

Sears Holdings chairman Eddie Lampert won a bankruptcy auction to buy the iconic retailer after presenting an improved offer of $5.2 billion, Sears confirmed Thurs🅺day, allowing it to keep its more than 400 stores runniꩲng.

As The Post previously reported, Sears picked Lampert’s hedge fund ESL Investments as the winner at a bankruptcy court-supervised auction after his latest bid topped an earlier $5 bi🌄llion proposalꦍ following weeks of talks.

The deal would preserve up to 45,000 jobs and ESL would acquire substantially all of the company, including its “Go Forw♎ard Stores” on a going-concern basis, Sears s🧸aid.

“We are pleased to have reached a deal that would provide a path for Sears to💟 emerge from the chapter 11 process,” t♓he restructuring committee of Sears’ board of directors said in a statement.

There remains a chance the deal could fall apart, as it still must be documented and approv🐲e𝐆d by a US bankruptcy judge.

A hearing to approve the♔ sale is scheduled for Feb. 1 and, if successful, the transaction is expect🌃ed to close on or about Feb. 8, Sears said.

Lampert’s only challenger in the auction was Sear✃s itself, and how much it would reap in a sale of its businesses and assets in piece🍸s, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Sears had believed Lampert’s🔥 earlier bids fell short of covering the bills the retailer has racked up since filing for bankruptcy protection in October.