Report: Sears owner exploring selling some assets

One of the most signature brands in the Sears’ portfolio may be on the selling block.

Transform Holdco, owner of the still-struggling retailer, is exploring potential assets to sell off, including its DieHard brand, reported The Wall Street Journal. Transform Holdco has hired investment bankers Guggenheim Partners to advise on the potential asset sale, according to the report. 

In February 2019, Sears chairman, former CEO and largest shareholder Eddie Lampert via his ESL hedge fund bought most of Sears’ assets, including about 400 stores, out of bankruptcy under a new, private entity, which is now called Transform Holdco. Lampert is chairman of the company.  

In August, the company announced that 21 Sears stores and five Kmart stores were scheduled to close in late October as amid struggles in a “weak retail environment.” It said at the time it could not rule out additional store closings in the near-term as it works to return the company to profitability.

Sears sold another of its signature brands, Craftsman, to Stanley Black & Decker in 2017.