Sears could potentially sell off select assets including its popular DieHard battery brand, according to The Wall Street Journal, with parent company Transform HoldCo hiring Guggenheim Partners to advise it after receiving inquiries from potential buyers.
Earlier this year, Sears chairman and former CEO Eddie Lampert purchased Sears through his hedge fund ESL Investments, but continues to face the same challenges that led it to bankruptcy in the first place.
Sears is struggling as the former big box retailer focuses on smaller store formats and a new logo in an attempt to revive it. About a quarter of the remaining 425 stores will close by the end of the year, so the efforts thus far aren’t paying off.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Transform HoldCo recently borrowed $150 million from different lenders, including Lampert, as stores struggling to remain stocked with products.
In 2017, Sears cut ties with Whirlpool products including Maytag and KitchenAid appliances following a pricing dispute between the two companies. Sears sold its popular Craftsman brand the same year to Stanley Black & Decker for an estimated $900 million.
The Kenmore brand was also put up on the block, but a buyer was never found. Lampert himself backed out of a Kenmore acquisition deal in 2018. Kenmore isn’t part of the current assets being offered for sales.
Transform HoldCo also owns Innovel Solutions Inc., which operates warehouses, a fleet of trucks and specializes in delivering appliances, as well as Sears Home Services, the retailer’s appliance repair division.