The parent company of Sears and Kmart stores, controlled by former Sears Holdings Corp. Chief Executive Eddie Lampert, has agreed to buy the rest of Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc.’s shares outstanding that Lampert’s hedge fund doesn’t already own, the Wall Street Journal reported. Transform Holdco LLC is buying the rest of Sears — or 42 percent of the company — for $2.25 a share in cash. The companies said that the deal brings Sears Hometown and Sears and Kmart stores back together after Sears Hometown stores were spun off from Sears Holdings Corp. seven years earlier. Transform’s majority owners are ESL Investments Inc., Lampert’s hedge fund, and its affiliates. A judge earlier this year approved a plan for Sears Holdings Corp., the former owner of Sears and Kmart stores that applied for bankruptcy last year, to sell assets to Lampert’s new company. Lampert was previously CEO of Sears Holdings.
