Sears Holdings Buys Delver, Expanding e-Commerce

With most Israeli M&A involving hi-tech, it was interesting to note that an old brick and mortar retailer, Sears Holdings (SHLD), decided to ante up for an Israeli company. Sears basically saved the Israeli start-up Delver Ltd. by purchasing the company. Delver has had trouble raising new money and was on the verge of collapse.

According to Globes:

“Delver co-founder and CEO Liad Agmon will move to the US and become a VP at Sears. Delver’s employees will continue to work in Israel and the company will operate as a Sears’ development center. Delver will continue development of its search engine that improves the relevancy of web search results by prioritizing these results based upon the searcher’s social network, as well as new products.

The acquisition fits in with Sears’ policy to get into online services. As part of the retailer’s restructuring in early 2008, it reorganized into five relatively independent units: operating businesses, support, brands, e-commerce, and real estate. Sears chairman Edward Lampert is the owner of hedge fund ESL Investments Inc., which controls the company. ”

Nice to know that even old brand names like Sears, like to go shopping in Israel.