Edward Lampert
, chairman and majority stockholder of Sears Holdings Corporation
(
SHLD
), has exercised his stock option for corporate spin-off, Sears
Hometown & Outlet Stores Inc., according to an SEC filing
recorded Oct. 10.
With a conversion rate of .218091, and a derivative conversion
price of $3.27, Lampert, along with several others of his private
equity funds including RBS Partners LP, ESL Institutional
Partners LP and SPE Master I LP, reported owning more than 13.7
million shares altogether, after the transaction. The price after
conversion amounted to $15 per share, which was the declared
exercise price of the subscription rights pertaining to Sears
Hometown's separation.
The breakup between Sears Hometown and Sears Holdings was
announced in February. The rights offering that accompanied the
separation was estimated to raise as much as $500 million, and
was officially distributed to Sears Holdings shareholders on
Sept. 7.
Shareholders were entitled to purchase shares of the Sears
Hometown spin-off, under the conversion rate and per share market
price mentioned, and under the stock symbol "SHOSR." Upon
completion of the rights offering time frame, Sears Hometown
would be traded under the stock symbol "SHOS." Sears Holdings
would continue to be traded under "SHLD."
Lampert's decision to exercise the subscription rights after the
transaction's full completion was declared the same day of the
separation announcement, intending to purchase the maximum number
of shares allocated to ESL Investments under the
over-subscription privilege.
The deadline of the offering officially ended at 5 p.m. EST on
Oct. 8. Preliminary results indicated that Sears Holdings
shareholders pursued more than 95 percent of the outstanding
shares of common stock, according to a Sears Holdings press
release. Many of the holders who exercised their basic
subscription rights in full also purchased additional shares of
common stock.
Sears Holdings expects to distribute more than 23.1 million
shares of common stock to shareholders who validly exercised
their subscription rights and paid the subscription price in
full, according to the release. The company's estimated aggregate
gross proceeds amounts to about $346.5 million.
Sears Holdings is currently traded at a market price of $60.36
and has a market cap of 6.04 billion. Its lowest trading price
per share so far this year was in January at about $29; its
highest trading price so far this year was in March at about $83.
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