Hedge fund manager Edward S. Lampert has spent the last 14 years steering Sears as it spun off businesses, took on debt and, this week, filed for bankruptcy protection, the New York Times reported. His hedge fund, ESL Investments, appears to have racked up a much more modest loss than the company’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing would suggest, according to corporate filings and interviews with analysts and investors. ESL’s nearly 50 percent stake in Sears will probably be wiped out in bankruptcy. But that loss is offset by gains elsewhere. For example, Lampert has collected hundreds of millions of dollars in interest and fees from Sears. He also took stakes in businesses that were spun off from the company, and some of those investments are doing well.
