CHICAGO _ Sears has won additional time to repay money borrowed from lenders including affiliates of Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert and Bill Gates' Cascade Investment.
Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp. extended the maturity of two loans totaling about $320 million, originally due next month, to July 2020, spokesman Chris Brathwaite said in an email.
The new agreement consolidated the two loans with a third existing loan. In total, Sears has about $779 million due in 2020, secured by 69 Sears-owned real estate properties, Sears disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing.
As Sears continues its turnaround efforts, the struggling retailer in recent years has been cutting thousands of jobs, closing hundreds of stores and selling off assets, such as store real estate and the Craftsman tool brand. The chain announced last week that it would close another 63 unprofitable Sears and Kmart stores, including five in Illinois.
Two affiliates of Lampert's ESL Investments hedge fund, JPP and JPP II, have repeatedly lent money to Sears in recent years. Brathwaite called Cascade's involvement in the extension "another vote of confidence in (Sears) by a third party" after Citigroup agreed last month to pay the retailer $425 million to extend their co-branded and private label credit card partnership.
