Transform Holdco, LLC Statement On Severance Payments For Former Sears Holdings Employees

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., May 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- There have been multiple reports that Transform Holdco, LLC ("Transform") is backing out of an agreement to pay severance to employees who were terminated during the Sears bankruptcy. These charges are false. To be clear, employees of old Sears who lost their jobs during bankruptcy have already received their severance payments. The approval that Transform has sought from the Court is to be released from its conditional obligation to reimburse Old Sears for making those severance payments. In the asset purchase agreement, Transform agreed to reimburse Old Sears for these severance payments in exchange for the receipt of certain assets. Old Sears has admitted that $55 million of those assets have not been transferred to Transform, although Transform believes the amount is larger. As a result, Transform is not obligated to reimburse Old Sears for having made the severance payments. In other words, this is a dispute between Transform and Old Sears, and no severance payments to terminated employees are "at risk."

Through its acquisition of Sears' business, Transform has provided continued employment for approximately 45,000 associates and has committed to offering severance to eligible associates on the same terms as were available prior to the start of the bankruptcy process. Transform has paid and intends to continue to pay severance to those eligible associates it took on as part of the acquisition. Without Transform's efforts to save Sears, all of those associates would have lost their jobs.

About Transform Holdco, LLC
Transform Holdco, LLC is a leading integrated retailer focused on seamlessly connecting the digital and physical shopping experiences to serve our members – wherever, whenever and however they want to shop. Transform Holdco is home to Shop Your Way®, a social shopping platform offering members rewards for shopping at Sears, Kmart and other retail partners. The Company operates through its subsidiaries with full-line and specialty retail stores across the United States.

SOURCE Transform Holdco, LLC