Owners of Neiman Marcus, seeking a possible alternative to an initial public offering they have been planning for the department-store chain, are asking potential bidders to submit takeover offers next week, people close to the situation said.
KKR, CVC Capital Partners and a team of Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are circling Neiman, the people said. Bids for Neiman are due next Wednesday, they added. It’s unclear which, if any, of the private-equity firms will bid or whether any sale of the entire company will materialize.
The suitors and Neiman’s private-equity owners so far disagree on a price tag for the luxury retailer. Neiman’s owners are seeking $6 billion or more for the chain — a valuation they are said to be confident they can get in an IPO — while potential buyers have indicated they’ll pay somewhere between $5.5 billion and $6 billion, the people said. Neiman is owned by TPG, Warburg Pincus and Leonard Green & Partners.
TPG and Warburg bought Neiman for about $4.9 billion in 2005.
Potential buyers and sellers in corporate auctions rarely see eye-to-eye, and bankers not involved in the negotiations said that $6 billion was not an unreasonable asking price for Neiman.
