Neiman Marcus, the luxury department-store chain that went private after a private-equity buyout in 2005, will now hit the public markets again. If the company is able to raise the $100 million or more expected from the venture, this could be good news for some retail real estate landlords, and also ends speculation of a merger with Saks.
Like many of the high-end luxury chains, Neiman has bounced back pretty strongly since the beginning of the recession. Same-store sales jumped 4.8% in the nine months leading up to the end of April; last year it earned $140.1 million on revenue of $4.3 billion, according to a registration statement filed with the SEC.
Part of Neiman's success during the downturn was that fact that it was rolling out its lower-cost outlet concepts Last Call and CUSP. This IPO could make way for futher expansion.
Neiman operates 35 Last Calls and expects to double that concept over the next five years. "We believe Last Call represents a meaningful growth opportunity relative to the number of the off-price retail locations of other luxury and premium multi-branded U.S. retailers," says the registration statement.
It doesn't give numbers for how much it wants to expand the six-store CUSP chain, but simply says, "there is an opportunity to significantly increase the footprint."
These mid-sized boxes are exactly what landlords are trying to fill right now, given the potential fallout from the Office Depot-OfficeMax merger and other chains that have left behind vacancies in that space size.
Do you think the IPO will fuel more growth of these concepts and help out on the vacancy landscape, or is the potential expansion not significant enough to make a difference to shopping-center owners?
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