Sears Holdings Corp. said May 23 that it agreed to extend a portion of its $500 million 2016 secured loan facility and annuitize $515 million of its pension obligations to reduce the size of its debt and pension obligations, as well as future risk related to its liabilities.

Some of Sears' subsidiaries on May 22 entered into an agreement to repay $100 million of its $500 million 2016 secured loan facility due to mature in July and to extend the maturity of the loan to January 2018.

On May 15, the company also entered an agreement with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to annuitize $515 million of pension liability, under which Metropolitan Life will pay future pension benefits to 51,000 retirees.

The retailer said it is targeting a reduction in its outstanding debt and pension obligations of $1.5 billion for fiscal 2017.