Discount retailer Kmart Holding Corp. announced that it finalized a transaction to sell 18 stores to The Home Depot for $271 million in cash, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier this month the two companies reported signing an agreement that provided for the sale of at least 13 stores for $173 million in cash and up to 19 stores for $288.5 million. That announcement was itself a revision of an earlier deal, which called for the sale of up to 24 stores for as much as $365 million and was revised due to some conditions not being met regarding certain stores.
“The stores we are retaining from the originally announced transaction have been operating profitably and better than plan for this year,” said Kmart’s president and chief executive officer, Julian C. Day.
Troy, Michigan-based Kmart said it expects that proceeds of $259 million for 17 of the stores will be released from escrow to Kmart by the end of the current fiscal quarter; the sum includes $54.6 million received last quarter. The company added that it should receive the remainder of the proceeds during the fourth quarter.
Some 560 full-time and management Kmart employees will be affected by the transaction; the company said it will offer opportunities within other Kmart locations to about 230 workers. The Home Depot announced that it expects to employ about 200 employees per store, significantly more than the current level of employees at the existing Kmart stores.