In July and August Vornado bought about 1.2 million shares of Sears for $34.44 each. In August and September the REIT purchased 7.9 million for $39.82 per share. A Vornado spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the deal. In their report, the company says the shares are "recorded as marketable securities on the company's consolidated balance sheet and are classified as available for sale."

In June Vornado acquired 25 properties housing units of the Southern California-based Stater Bros. supermarket chain for $65 million. And the REIT has made investments in other retail chains in the past.

The company owns 60 retail real estate properties in six states and Puerto Rico totaling 13.1 million sf. Vornado also owns 20 office properties in Manhattan, the 3.4 million-sf Merchandise Mart in Chicago and 63 office properties in Washington DC and northern Virginia. In all Vornado has an interest in 87 million sf of real estate.

Sears reported a year-over-year same-store sales increase of 1.9% last month on revenues of $1.9 billion. The company operates about 2,300 stores in North America and is expanding its Sears Grand off-mall chain, of which there now are three.

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