(Bloomberg) -- Hedge fund billionaire Edward Lampert stepped down as chair of Seritage Growth Properties as the real estate investment trust that emerged from the Sears bankruptcy reviews strategic alternatives.
New York-based Seritage, the owner of 170 residential, retail and mixed-use properties in the U.S., has hired Barclays Plc as its financial adviser, according to a statement Tuesday. The REIT is in the early stages of its strategic review and said it wouldn't comment further on the process.
The shares were up 2.9% to $10.49 at 9:40 a.m. New York time. Bloomberg reported Seritage was considering strategic alternatives including a sale on Feb. 27.
Lampert, formerly chief executive officer of Sears, will retire from the board immediately “to allow additional time to focus on my other investments and to provide me with greater flexibility to explore alternatives for my investment in Seritage,” he said in the statement.
His options could include “participating with parties that may be interested in acquiring certain of the company's assets and trading shares in open market transactions,” he said.
Lampert owns a 22.1% stake in the company and holds about 9.3% of the Class A shares as of Sept. 30, according to a filing.
Andrea Olshan took over as CEO of Seritage a year ago, seeking to refocus the company and cull certain assets to raise capital for more-profitable development projects, including at former Sears stores.
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