Eddie Lampert has finally ’fessed up about his plans to unload Sears Canada.
The hedge-fund billionaire — who, as chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings, has been selling and spinning off assets to stem widening losses at his US stores — is exploring a sale of Sears’ Canadian counterpart, Sears said in a statement Wednesday.
That’s despite the fact that Sears had publicly denied The Post’s exclusive Nov. 24 report that Lampert had been interviewing banks about a possible sale of the retailer’s controlling stake in Sears Canada.
Asked about the situation, Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite insisted that The Post’s scoop had been premature.
Nevertheless, sources told The Post that under Lampert’s direction, Sears officials had been interviewing investment banks and reaching out to prospective buyers as early as last fall about selling the company’s 51 percent stake in Sears Canada.
Interest has been weak, with most of Sears Canada’s 179 stores expected to go to private-equity funds and real-estate companies in a massive liquidation of the chain.
Big retailers — such as Macy’s, Target and Walmart — have shown scant interest, sources said.
“He’s destroyed the franchise,” Mark Cohen, a Columbia Business School professor and former CEO of Sears Canada, said of Lampert.
Cohen, who left Sears Canada in 2004 before Lampert took control, said the retailer had been “sizable, profitable and completely capable of continued growth” before Lampert began slashing spending and shucking assets.
Sears Holdings’ shares fell 5.9 percent Wednesday to close at $40.70 a share.