Sears Holdings Corp. Chairman Eddie Lampert’s ESL Investments Inc. has made an offer valued at $4.6 billion to buy the bankrupt U.S. retailer, one of the only options that would prevent the department store chain from shutting its doors for good, Reuters reported. Lampert’s offer calls for about 500 Sears stores to remain open and would keep 50,000 of the retailer’s workers employed, according to a letter from his hedge fund filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 125-year-old company faces a series of deadlines this month to find a buyer that would keep it in business as some of its creditors call for it to shut down, claiming they would be repaid more through going-out-of-business sales. Preliminary indications of interest for Sears assets were due on Wednesday, according to court papers.
