After early reports that creditors had rejected the offer of chairman Eddie Lampert, clearing the way for a liquidation, a New York bankruptcy court said it would give the ESL chairman one more chance to bid against liquidators in a Jan. 15 auction provided he deposited $120 million. Lampert is trying to acquire the assets of Sears that would include some 400 stores and save 50,000 of the 65,000 jobs now at the retailer.

Creditors rejected Lampert’s $4.4 billion bid, which included a credit bid of $1.3 billion involving debt owed to ESL by Sears, for numerous reasons. They charged the ... Log in to view full article.