Judge gives Eddie Lampert second shot at Sears

Sears was saved by a judge’s gavel.

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Thursday handed hedge fund mogul Eddie Lampert the keys to the troubled retailer again, granting him a second chance to revive the iconic brand and save 45,000 jobs.

The ruling caps Lampert’s months-long effort to convince the judge he deserves another shot at the 125-year-old retailer, which owns both Sears department stores and Kmart.

The company filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 15 after 13 years of sagging sales under Lampert’s ESL Investments, which ran 687 stores and employed 68,000 employees at the time of the filing — down from a peak of 4,000 stores in 2012.

ESL said it would buy the company out of bankruptcy for $5.2 billion in a plan that includes focusing on 425 of its profitable stores and on popular products like Kenmore appliances.

A three-day bankruptcy court hearing to approve the deal ended with the judge warning ESL not to cause problems in closing the sale, said bankruptcy attorney David Wander of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, who represents stiffed vendors.

The judge also questioned whether Lampert wants “his legacy to be akin to Jay Gould,” the ruthless robber baron of the Gilded Age, as some of his critics have charged, Wander said.

Lampert was “subject to substantial verbal abuse” during the proceedings, Drain said, before noting that “he is a wealthy individual and a big boy and I guess he can take it.”

A likely turning point in the case was a deal that was struck late Wednesday with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which is owed $1.7 billion and agreed to drop its objection to sell to ESL.

The PBGC, Sears’ largest creditor, will receive $800 million from the Sears estate and up to $80 million in proceeds from potential claims against ESL, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Creditors had argued that the judge should liquidate the company’s assets instead of handing the company back to ESL.

As The Post reported Wednesday, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which treats kids with cancer, also opposed the sale, claiming that it was still owed more than $700,000 in charitable donations collected by Kmart.

The judge on Thursday told the parties to work together to settle the matter.

One sticking point still being investigated involves claims over how the hedge fund handled the sale of certain Sears assets, including real estate and Lands’ End, which some creditors maintain were sold to ESL entities on favorable terms.

Lampert will no doubt be sued for those transactions, industry experts said. A subcommittee of Sears’ board of directors, which is investigating the matter, said claims related to Lands’ End and Seritage real estate transactions “are strong” and could “produce significant recoveries for the debtor’s estates,” according to a February court filing.

With Post wires