Reuters provides behind-the-scenes look at the three weeks that saved Sears

Reuters followed up a series of exclusives on efforts to salvage department store chain Sears with a look behind the scenes on how Sears chairman and its top investor, Eddie Lampert, prevailed in an auction that helped to keep at least part of the 126-year-old chain intact. It was the culmination of a battle, with Sears directors and advisors on one side and Lampert and his negotiators on the other, that had begun on the last Friday in December, when the billionaire, through his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc, made an offer to take over the company.