HBC, the mum or dad firm of upscale trend retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, introduced it might purchase Dallas-based Neiman Marcus on Thursday in a sale price $2.65 billion.
Neiman Marcus was based in downtown Dallas in 1907 and has been a luxurious trend chief worldwide ever since, serving to make North Texas an essential hub for high-end attire.
Right here’s what we all know thus far:
The merger of New York-based Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus would create an upscale trend retail juggernaut.
The brand new mixed firm can be known as “Saks World,” per a information launch, and also will embody Saks OFF fifth, the Saks sister off-price division chain, and Bergdorf Goodman, an iconic New York Metropolis division retailer that the homeowners of Neiman Marcus purchased in 1972.
The mixed firm might see about $10 billion in annual gross sales, in accordance with the Wall Avenue Journal, and greater than 150 areas.
Amazon has a stake within the acquisition.
Throughout the pandemic, on-line procuring and e-commerce thrived. Saks Fifth Avenue was fast to adapt to the brand new dynamic, including digital procuring appointments with stylists and bettering the net procuring expertise for purchasers.
That may assist put in context Amazon’s stake within the sale of Neiman Marcus. Amazon will assist “innovate on behalf of shoppers and model companions” when the deal is closed, in accordance with the information launch.
“That is an thrilling time in luxurious retail, with technological developments creating new alternatives to redefine the client expertise, and we sit up for unlocking vital worth for our prospects, model companions and workers,” stated Richard Baker, HBC’s CEO, within the launch.
The shops will proceed to function underneath their very own model names
Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus will retain their respective model names, in accordance with the information launch, however will function underneath the bigger “Saks World” umbrella that may also embody Bergdorf Goodman and Saks OFF fifth, in addition to different Neiman Marcus manufacturers.
The mixed firm may also embody HBC’s U.S. actual property property and Neiman Marcus Group’s actual property property, per the discharge, making a $7 billion portfolio of retail actual property property in luxurious procuring locations.
Neiman Marcus climbed out of chapter
The retail big was one of many first main malls to enter chapter in Might 2020, close to the peak of the pandemic.
Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck wrote in a letter on the time that the corporate would undergo a monetary restructuring to scale back the corporate’s debt load. It’s not but clear what position van Raemdonck may have within the new Saks World.
Shops, particularly, have been in decline as malls shutter and on-line procuring thrives, amongst different causes. Retail big Macy’s, as an illustration, stated that it might shutter practically a 3rd of its U.S. areas earlier this yr because it fought with activist investor teams that sought to purchase the corporate.
Richard Marcus historic images
What’s HBC, the mum or dad firm of Saks Fifth Avenue?
HBC is a holding firm with a portfolio of companies that embody a few of the greatest names in retail, in accordance with its web site.
The New York-based group is almost all shareholder of firms like Hudson’s Bay and Galeria Kaufhof, amongst others.
HBC additionally has an actual property and investments portfolio division. The corporate controls both solely or with three way partnership companions about 40 million sq. toes of gross leasable space, per the corporate web site.
Who owned Neiman Marcus earlier than the sale?
The Dallas-based Neiman Marcus Group has been privately held for a number of years and has been purchased and offered a number of instances by huge non-public traders.
Earlier than the transaction with HBC, Neiman Marcus was owned by New York-based hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Administration, California-based funding administration agency PIMCO and Sixth Avenue, additionally an funding agency.
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