NEIMAN THREE-WAY
Out to split site, stores & Bergdorf
Neiman Marcus is exploring a possible corporate rejiggering that would split the luxury chain into three different businesses, separating its Web site from its stores and spinning off Bergdorf Goodman, The Post has learned.
The plans — which appear to mimic a closely watched strategy disclosed this spring by archrival Saks Fifth Avenue — aren’t expected to result in major changes that are visible to shoppers, according to sources close to the situation.
Instead, Neiman appears to be looking to maximize the growth potential of its Web site by freeing it from the burden of the retailer’s challenged stores, insiders said. In particular, execs are eyeing Saks’ success in attracting a $500 million investment this year from a venture-capital firm to fuel the growth of Saks.com.
Indeed, sources said Neiman has been vetting ways to slice and dice its businesses. It’s talking with AlixPartners, according to people familiar with matter. That’s the consulting firm that Saks hired to help separate its Web operations from its brick-and-mortar stores. Macy’s also has recently tapped AlixPartners as it considers spinning off its e-commerce business and Neiman itself has worked with Alix on other issues.
Neiman hired JP Morgan earlier this year, as The Post previously reported, to explore a possible sale of Bergdorf Goodman. The investment bank recently presented the plan to hive off the divisions to the luxury department store’s board of directors, a source with knowledge of the situation said.
“JPMorgan spent months and months on this plan and Neiman Marcus just hired people to execute it,” the source said.
Neiman Marcus didn’t respond to requests for comment. Spokespersons for AlixPartners and JPMorgan declined to comment.
The moves are being driven by Neiman Marcus’ new private-equity owners — including Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Sixth Street Partners and Pacific Investment Management — which are angling to create a potential exit ramp after consolidating ownership of the chain following a May 2020 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing at the height of the pandemic, sources said.
Rising value
In March, HBC-owned Saks split off its e-commerce business into a separate entity and sold a minority stake for $500 million to venture firm Insight Partners, giving the business a valuation of about $2 billion. The idea is for the fast-growing Saks.com site to be taken public in the first half of 2022.
Neiman, meanwhile, has lately seen a rash of executive departures under Chief Executive Geoffroy van Raemdonck, even as it has struggled to claw back sales at its 37 Neiman Marcus stores and its Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan. Neiman closed its first and only Big Apple store — located at Hudson Yards — last year.
Last month, a former J.Crew and Avon executive, James Scully, was hired as interim chief growth officer along with an interim CFO, Mark Weinstein, succeeding Brandy Richardson, who left for Men’s Wearhouse in October. Weinstein, a restructuring expert, had been tapped previously as interim chief operating officer in 2019 and 2020.