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Sears CEO Eddie Lampert has proposed a deal between the retailer and his hedge fund, ESL Investments, to raise cash for the struggling department-store chain.
In a letter dated April 20, Lampert proposed that ESL Investments purchase Sears' Kenmore brand, its home-improvement business, its Parts Direct division, and some of the company's real estate. Sears' shares spiked more than 8% in early-morning trading Monday.
"We understand that Sears has marketed certain of these assets for nearly two years but, with the exception of the Craftsman divestiture, has been unable to reach agreement with potential purchasers on acceptable terms," Lampert wrote in the letter, which Sears posted on its website on Monday.
He said ESL valued Sears' home improvement and Parts Direct businesses at $500 million collectively.
In finance news, Goldman Sachs just made its first crypto hire to explore a potential bitcoin trading desk. And a secretive high-speed trader is providing college kids with a "launch pad" to build cryptocurrency companies.
In markets news, the 10-year yield is closing in on the key 3% level. Jeff Gundlach, the founder of DoubleLine Capital, forecast in January that returns on the S&P 500 this year would be negative, and he said his forecast "would become an extraordinarily strong conviction as the 10-year starts to make an accelerated move above 3%."
Elsewhere:
- One stock-trading strategy has quietly been crushing the market - and Goldman Sachs says it's just getting started
- A popular trade is stuck in its worst stretch in 35 years - but Morgan Stanley has the perfect strategy for a big comeback
- GOLDMAN SACHS: A steadfast source of stock market turmoil is poised to make a comeback