Sears gets approval for credit card sale 2003-10-16 21:09:42 GMT (Reuters) NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Sears, Roebuck and Co. , the largest U.S. department store chain, on Thursday said it received regulatory approval for the sale of its credit card accounts to an affiliate of Citigroup Inc. Sears, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, also said it would commence tender offers to buy $11.8 billion of debt securities for cash. The retailer said proceeds from the credit sale will be used mainly to pay down debt, return cash to shareholders and for general corporate purposes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I called citibank and the rep said if you have the gold mastercard they could change the acct to what ever I wanted. But If I only had the store card then it could not be changed.
Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank They UP-GRADED a bunch of "STORE" accounts WITH-OUT PERMISSION TO M/C...then the started ASKING PERMISSION...I didn't get either... I was kinda' hoping I would have been UP-GRADED because they were getting 20 X WHAT THEY HAD FOR A CREDIT LIMIT...that would put me over $100,000 for the SEARS M/C...
Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank Sears, Roebuck and Co. Announces Regulatory Approval of Credit Sale and Plans To Commence Tender Offers to Purchase for Cash Approximately $11.8 Billion Of Debt Securities HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE: S) ("Sears") announced today that it received notice that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has approved the previously announced acquisition by Citibank USA, N.A., an affiliate of Citigroup, Inc., of substantially all of the credit card accounts of Sears National Bank, an affiliate of Sears (the "Credit Sale"). Pursuant to the federal banking laws of the United States, Sears and Citicorp may only consummate the Credit Sale on or after the expiration of a 15-day waiting period following receipt of today's approval. The waiting period will expire on Friday, October 31, 2003 and the Credit Sale is currently expected to close promptly thereafter, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining conditions under the definitive purchase agreement relating to the Credit Sale. Proceeds from the Credit Sale are intended to be used primarily to retire debt, return cash to shareholders and for general corporate purposes. Sears and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Sears Roebuck Acceptance Corp. ("SRAC") and Sears DC Corp., formerly known as Discover Credit Corp. ("SDC"), expect to commence promptly cash tender offers to purchase any and all of their respective unsecured public term debt securities maturing after 2003, which include 214 series of securities with an aggregate principal amount of approximately $11.8 billion. Delivery of offering materials to registered security holders will begin upon commencement of the offers. The offers will relate to various series of debt securities, including approximately $9.7 billion in aggregate principal amount of term debt securities originally distributed primarily to institutional investors and issued by each of Sears, SRAC and SDC (collectively, the "Institutional Notes") and approximately $2.1 billion in aggregate principal amount of debt securities originally distributed primarily to individual investors and issued by SRAC (the "Retail Notes"). The offers for Institutional Notes and Retail Notes (together, the "Notes") are subject to the terms and conditions that will be included in the applicable offering materials. Each offer for each series of Notes will be independent and will not be conditioned upon any other offer, and each offer may be amended, extended or terminated individually. The offers will not be conditioned on any minimum amount of Notes being tendered. Noteholder consent is not required to consummate the Credit Sale and will not be sought as part of the offers. The offers will be based on either a fixed price or a price that relates to a fixed spread over the yield to maturity of certain US Treasury securities, plus, in both cases, accrued and unpaid interest. Consideration offered on the fixed price securities, primarily redeemable in 2004, generally will be par plus Sears' estimated cost of carry through redemption, net of acquisition costs. Additional information will be available upon commencement of the offers. Tender spreads for other securities are shown in Schedules 1 and 2 for the Institutional Notes and Schedule 3 for the Retail Notes, each of which is attached hereto. The terms of the offers will be specific to each series of Notes and, in the case of the Institutional Notes, will include an early tender premium that will be offered to holders that validly tender and do not withdraw their notes prior to an early tender date, which is anticipated to be on or after Wednesday, October 29, 2003. In each case, the consideration to be paid for Notes properly tendered and accepted for payment will be determined in accordance with the procedures described in the applicable offering materials. Each tender offer for each series of Notes will be made pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in two separate Offers to Purchase and related Letters of Transmittal. The offers are expected to expire 20 business days following commencement of the offers, unless earlier extended or terminated. Withdrawal rights for each offer may differ and security holders are urged to read the Offers to Purchase and related Letters of Transmittal for more details. The offers are conditioned on, among other things, consummation of the Credit Sale. This announcement is not an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to purchase with respect to any securities. The tender offers will be made solely pursuant to the Offers to Purchase and related Letters of Transmittal and are not being made in any jurisdiction in which such an offer would be unlawful. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT Sears, SRAC and SDC expect to commence the tender offers and begin distribution of offering materials to debt holders promptly. These materials will contain important information. Security holders are advised to carefully review these documents and related materials when they become available. Copies of any offering materials may be obtained on the Internet at http://www.sracweb.com/tenderoffers.htm or through D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Information Agent for the offers, by telephone at (800) 431-9642 (toll free) or in writing at 48 Wall Street, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10005. About Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a broadline retailer with significant service and credit businesses. In 2002, Sears' revenue was $41.4 billion. Sears offers its wide range of apparel, home and automotive products and services to families in the U.S. through Sears stores nationwide, including approximately 870 full-line stores. Sears also offers a variety of merchandise and services over the Internet via its sears.com and landsend.com websites and through a variety of specialty catalogues. About Sears Roebuck Acceptance Corp. SRAC is a wholly owned finance subsidiary of Sears. SRAC raises funds primarily by issuing commercial paper, medium-term notes and discrete underwritten debt. SRAC uses the proceeds from its borrowings to acquire short-term notes of Sears. About Sears DC Corp. SDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears and was formed to borrow in domestic and foreign debt markets and lend the proceeds of such borrowings to Sears and certain direct and indirect subsidiaries of Sears in exchange for their unsecured notes. SDC raised funds through the sale of its medium-term notes and direct placement of commercial paper with corporate and institutional investors. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains "forward-looking statements" about Sears' expectations regarding the sale of its Credit and Financial Products business and the timing of the proposed tender offers. These statements are forward- looking statements based on assumptions about the future that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the results projected in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include the possibility that the sale of the Credit and Financial Products business, which is subject to conditions of closing, does not close, and other factors outside the control of the Sears. While Sears believes that its forecasts and assumptions are reasonable, it cautions that actual results may differ materially. Sears intends the forward-looking statements to speak only as of the time first made and does not undertake to update or revise them as more information becomes available. Additional discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties is contained in Sears' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sears' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 28, 2002, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 29, 2003 and June 28, 2003 and any Current Report on Form 8-K currently on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission during the current fiscal year.
Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank Do you know when this will take place? I would love to change my gold M/C to a CITI card.
Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank I was told to call Citibank customer service once the change over takes place...I am sure we are going to get more information soon as to when the change will actually become effective. But I know when I taked to the sears customer service agent she was very excited about the change and told me that it is going to be great for the customers.
Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank I wonder if I could TRADE SEARS "STORE" for SEARS M/C then later end up with CITIBANK M/C OPEN SINCE 1979??? NO CREDIT REPORT NO APPLICATION NO QUESTIONS ...AND THE CREDIT LIMIT INCREASES I NEVER GOT FOR MORE THAN 5 YEARS???
Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank George, I would call sears and ask to be upgraded to the gold master card. I dont see why they would say no.
Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank MBNA said I could trade for AAA and/or AMTRAK...(WHEN QUANTUM WAS PAID IN FULL)---DID THAT..."YOU CAN'T TRADE---DO YOU WANT TO APPLY"??? SEARS WON'T FIND SOME EXCUSE???
Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank I dont think so...It cant hurt to try. They are open 24 hrs call and see. Let me know.
Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank George did yu call and see if they will upgarde to the Gold Mastercard?
Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank GEORGE, I don't know where that 20X came from, unless someone had a very low limit and there was a minimum on the MasterCard. I don't think mine was increased at all when it converted, and it hasn't increased since. I have about $3400 or $3500 limit.
Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank I wonder if they'll still give the 0% interest on certain purchases, and will it have to be the Sears MC? If so, that's a good reason to keep it instead of combining it.
Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank I agree, But I really want an AA Citibank card. Which Is what I am going to switch it over too.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank I know they will pull a HARD (even if they say they won't) I would lose 1 of only 2 RETAIL Still THINKIN'
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sears Sale To Citibank scorpio07 , have you tried applying for the AAdvantage card? They seem to be one of the easier ones to get.
