Nordstrom Family Set to Take Department Store Private in $6.3B Deal
By Isabelle Durso December 23, 2024 5:14 pm
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Department store nordstrom is set to go private in an approximately $6.25 billion deal after the company announced Monday that members of the Nordstrom family along with Mexican department store chain owner El Puerto de Liverpool would be acquiring all of the company’s outstanding shares.
Upon completion of the deal — which is expected in the first half of 2025 — members of the Nordstrom family, including top officers Erik, Pete and Jamie Nordstrom, will have a majority ownership stake in the company, according to the announcement.
“For over a century, Nordstrom has operated with a foundational principle of helping customers feel good and look their best,” CEO Erik Nordstrom said in a statement. “Today marks an exciting new chapter for the business. On behalf of my family, we look forward to working with our teams to ensure Nordstrom thrives long into the future.”
Spokespeople for Nordstrom and El Puerto de Liverpool did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal will be financed through “rollover equity” from the Nordstrom family and Liverpool, cash commitments from Liverpool, up to $450 million in new financing, and company cash, Nordstrom said.
The Nordstrom family will have a 50.1 percent stake in the company, while Liverpool — which owns the Liverpool and Suburbia chains in Mexico — will have a 49.9 percent stake, according to the company.
“Nordstrom is one of the worldwide leaders in department store retailing, and we’re thrilled to be investing in a company that has meaningfully shaped the industry for nearly 125 years,” Graciano F. Guichard G., executive chairman of the board of directors of Liverpool, said in a statement.
Morgan Stanley and Centerview Partners represented Nordstrom’s special committee that approved the transaction, the company said.
The deal marks the family’s second attempt to take the company private, after a failed effort in 2018, as department stores across the U.S. have seen dips in traffic and competition from e-commerce in recent years, CoStar reported.
That includes Macy’s, which has been offloading its real estate in an effort to shrink its footprint, and both Sears and J.C. Penney, which both filed for bankruptcy protection in recent years, according to CoStar.
Nordstrom hasn’t been spared as it expects to have a weak 2024, despite it seeing some success in its off-price store, Nordstrom Rack, Reuters reported.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
