market folly

Bill Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square has sold its 17.3% stake in Sears Canada (TSE:SCC) for around $560 million to Sears Holding (Nasdaq:SHLD), the company owned by Eddie Lampert and his hedge fund RBS Partners. Upon completion of the transaction, Sears Holdings will own around 90% of Sears Canada. This is not the first time that Lampert has tried to buy Ackman's stake in Sears Canada either. Back in 2006, Lampert attempted to purchase shares at around $16 per share and Ackman declined, deeming the offer too low. This time around, Ackman accepted an offer of CAD 30 per share (Canadian Dollars). With this, it seems as though Sears Holdings will possibly look to buy out the remaining shares of Sears Canada.

For more of our coverage on Ackman's hedge fund, we recently covered their newly disclosed position in Yum Brands (YUM) and their economic exposure to General Growth Properties (GGP). Turning to Eddie Lampert's recent activity, we noted that he recently bought AutoNation shares (AN).

Taken from Google Finance, Sears Holdings is "the parent company of Kmart Holding Corporation (Kmart) and Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Sears). The Company is broadline retailer with 2,235 full-line and 1,284 specialty retail stores in the United States operating through Kmart and Sears, and 402 full-line and specialty retail stores in Canada operating through Sears Canada Inc. (Sears Canada)."

You can view Bill Ackman's portfolio here and you can view Eddie Lampert's portfolio here.