Neiman Marcus IPO aims for $100 million; equity owners seek exit

Meiman Marcus IPO registration papers were filed yesterday, with the company asking to raise the standard $100 million. Neiman Marcus' private equity owners are eyeing an exit for their long-held investment through the IPO. 

|
M. Spencer Green/AP/File
The Chicago skyline is reflected in the exterior of Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue in Chicago in 2009. Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus plans to raise up to $100 million from an initial public offering of its common stock, according to reports.

Neiman Marcus Inc filed registration papers on Monday for an initial public offering as its private equity owners eye an exit for their long-held investment in the luxury department store operator.

The Dallas-based retailer has been in the hands of private equity since 2005, when TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus LLC led a group that bought the Dallas-based retailer for $5.1 billion.

The IPO registration may signal little more than Neiman Marcus' desire to keep its options open. Private equity-owned companies routinely try to sell themselves to other companies or funds while they are also preparing for an IPO in a practice referred to by investment bankers as "dual-track."

Last month for example, Warburg agreed to sell eyecare company Bausch & Lomb Holdings Inc to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International for $8.7 billion after it had registered it for an IPO.

Private equity funds typically have a lifespan of ten years. Owned by private equity for eight years already, Neiman Marcus is considered a mature investment by industry standards.

Neiman, which operates 41 namesake departments stores, Bergdorf Goodman as well as the lower-price outlet chains Last Call and CUSP, would not receive any proceeds from the IPO, according to the prospectus filed with U.S. regulators. All shares in an IPO would be sold by existing shareholders.

The initial prospectus did not set out a timeline for the IPO, how many shares will be sold and by whom, nor on which exchange Neiman shares would trade. The company indicated it was asking to raise up to $100 million, but that amount is the standard used in many IPO filings as a placeholder to calculate a company's registration fees. The actual amount raised could be smaller, or, most likely in the case, larger.

During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, luxury sales plummeted in the United States. Neiman revenues had not yet recovered to pre-recession levels at the end of its most recent, complete fiscal year but are poised to for the fiscal year ending in late July.

Neiman, which competes most directly with Saks Inc, Nordstrom Inc and Macy's Inc's upscale Bloomingdale's chain, reported revenues in the nine months ended April 27 rose 5.7 percent to $3.53 billion while comparable sales were up 4.8 percent.

Saks reported comparable sales rose 4.4 percent in fiscal 2012, while for Nordstrom they were up 7.3 percent.

Neiman was the first high-end U.S. retailer to offer e-commerce and gets about 21.7 percent of sales on line, better than Saks and Nordstrom.

In its prospectus, Neiman said e-commerce would continue to be a major source of growth, including more sales to overseas shoppers. It also plans expand its Last Call and CUSP chains of small format outlet stores.

Private equity firms have been busy this year trying to cash out on portfolio companies: Other recent large deals involving private equity-backed companies include SeaWorld Entertainment Inc and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Neiman Marcus IPO aims for $100 million; equity owners seek exit
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0625/Neiman-Marcus-IPO-aims-for-100-million-equity-owners-seek-exit
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe