Sears explores sale-leaseback deal of buildings

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

NEW YORK (AP) — Sears Holdings stock skyrocketed in premarket trading after it said it's considering forming a real estate investment trust that holds about 200 to 300 of its buildings as a way to boost its liquidity.

The move would entail the sale of the stores, which the struggling retailer said would result in "substantial proceeds." The company would lease back the stores and continue to operate in them.

Sears also says it expects third-quarter sales to dip 0.1 percent at established locations.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141107/us--sears-buildings-1ff166279b.html

[tontonmacoute]

1. Eddie Lampert has figured out another way to suck all the value out of Sears...

This long running drama is a slow motion version of the Mitt Romney-vulture capitalism that has transferred the assets of average Americans into the pockets of slick one percenter crooks.

Sears’ March to Oblivion Continues With the Eddie Lampert Loan

Sears stock owners might want to question why Eddie Lampert is making a collateralized loan to himself
By James Brumley, InvestorPlace Contributor | Sep 17, 2014, 8:43 am EST

If there was any lingering doubt Eddie Lampert wasn’t trying to liquidate Sears Holdings (SHLD), Tuesday’s announcement wiped away yet another part of that doubt. The struggling retailer set itself up to shed another 25 of its stores by using that property as collateral for a loan worth up to $400 million.

The oddity: The borrower, Sears Holdings, is under the direction of majority SHLD shareholder and CEO Eddie Lampert …

Knowing that Eddie Lampert hasn’t been shy about shedding the best pieces of SHLD, though (and chanting “transformation” the entire time he’s done it), it wouldn’t be wrong to entertain the notion that this is just another step down the road to a complete breakup of Sears.

-snip-


http://investorplace.com/2014/09/sears-holdings-shld-eddie-lampert-loan/#.VFzQ1DTF-So

[shenmue]

2. Used to be a good company

Another name ruined by thieves in management.

[glinda]

4. Their products are not very good anymore though.

We cannot shop there anymore because of issues from defective cheaply made appliances and poor service.

[Gloria]

6. However, they have great jeans and the Joe Boxer

PJs and other stuff is quite good, compared to the crap at Walmart (which I avoid llike the plague).

I recently have become more of a "Sears shopper" as I've discovered some excellent shoes at great prices that my poor
feet can handle and those Canyon River jeans ( I get a boys 16)...
Really good quality and great prices!

I'm dead serious!
And a couple of years ago, I got an incredible buy on a Hoover vac that I had had my eye of for awhile....I saw the price and literally dropped everything to get it!

[AngryAmish]

9. Toughskins were the only jeans I woukd not ruin as a boy

[candelista]

8. If you're thinking of Kenmore, Sears doesn't make it.

A "Kenmore" appliance can be anything from a Whirlpool to an LG. Sears just buys them from the manufacturers and slaps their own "Kenmore" label on them.

If the quality of Sears products has gone down, it's because the quality of American appliances has gone down.

Hope this cheers you up!

[glinda]

10. They are manufactured in Mexico I was told by Sears Corp Headquarters.

[candelista]

11. "They" meaning what? Kenmore?

I'm sure some of the brands that Sears rebrands as "Kenmore" are indeed manufactured in Mexico.

Or maybe the Sears rep also ignorantly believed that Kenmore was a real type of appliance.

Because you seem to believe whatever the Sears "authorities" tell you, I took the trouble to find a site that corroborates what I said. Click on the link below. There are many other sites that will tell you the same thing.

http://www.appliance411.com/purchase/sears.shtml

[glinda]

16. ahem

"Because you seem to believe whatever the Sears "authorities" tell you". No I actually spoke to the Headquarters because our refrigerator was delivered 2 weeks late, a broken refrigerator, and then they had to redeliver another which took several more days. Fortunately it was freezing and with snow outside so we stored what food was left in the snowbank. It was the second item and also the second brand that we had bought from them. I appreciate the link but you do not need to be nasty. You don't know me.

[freshwest]

14. Yes, I watched it decline over the decades. Then found out why.

[greatlaurel]

3. Whenever the terms sale and lease back of property are used, it sounds like a scam.

The sale of the buildings in which the stores are located can not possibly be a good idea. How can the stock value rise when the company is stripping hard assets which will lead to higher expenses later on? It can not make any long term economic sense to sell your buildings and lease the buildings back. Some business major will say that it makes economic sense. Looks like the corporate thugs are just stripping out the hard assets, before they take Sears to complete shut down.

The final stage of controlled failure of such a huge business by stripping assets has begun. Have they stolen the pension funds of employees yet?

[ballyhoo]

5. I was their Regional Controller in charge of Distribution

when I left the company. That was in 1985. I could see the handwriting on the wall back then. Sears was well organized; unfortunately, their products were not keeping pace with a changing market. They then hired people at gigantic sums of money who did nothing but dig the company's grave. The only reason I go into the store now is their parking lot in Santa Monica where my wife and I go for fun several times a month. There was a time though that Sears was a household name and a honest, reliable brand.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. These are pretty ordinary transactions

I have done a few, they can swing either way in the long-run depending on the commercial real estate market. Sears isn't exactly into "flagship" stores in a big way, they don't have much brand equity in specific locations. The retailer I used to work for did leasebacks on a bunch of buildings in California and Arizona about a decade ago. It was definitely the right decision for them. Those buildings won't be worth what they were paid for them again in our lifetimes.

[candelista]

7. Just like the NYT.

They sold their building in historic Times Square, and leased some of it back from the new owners, Tishman Speyer Properties, who bought it for $175 million in 2000. Tishman sold it to Africa Israel Investments in 2007 for $525 million. Africa Israel Investments sold it recently to the Blackstone Group.

[DeSwiss]

13. ....

- With these guys even if you find the pea it's an illusion.....


Sears is a crappy store.

[Fearless]

15. I work for a company that did this... IT IS A SCAM

The already struggling business will see one time profit and long term RENT PAYMENTS being deducted from their profits. Seriously, they're fucking idiots if they think this will work.