Edward S. Lampert may have made an offer Friday to buy Sears Holdings Corp. out of bankruptcy for $4.4 billion and keep 425 stores in operation, but the retailer is far from out of the woods — and it’s far from certain the hedge fund executive’s bid will succeed. That’s because Lampert’s offer still needs to get “qualified” bid status, which won’t be known until Jan. 4. Lampert made good on a nonbonding offer disclosed earlier this month to acquire Sears’ assets, but needed to work out details with lenders, which have committed to $1.3 billion in financing. The final and official going-concern bid was made last Friday afternoon before the 4 p.m. deadline. The move gave Sears a bit of a reprieve from liquidation. Lampert, through his hedge fund ESL Investments, in 2003 bailed Kmart Corp. out of bankruptcy and a year later engineered the merger of Kmart Holding Corp. with Sears, Roebuck & Co. While much was expected — and promised by Lampert — of the combined Sears Holdings entity, including annual sales projected at $55 billion, much has also shifted in the retail landscape in the years since the completion of the 2005 merger. Changes have included a preference for
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