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đź”´ PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Neiman Marcus
luxury department store · Dallas, TX
PE Firm
Ares Management, CDPQ
Year Acquired
2021
“They stripped a billion in assets, bankrupted a 114-year-old luxury icon, and walked away with MyTheresa.”
The PE Playbook
- •Ares and CPPIB saddled Neiman with $4.9B in debt from a $6B LBO in 2013 — the second leveraged buyout in under a decade
- •PE owners transferred ~$1B worth of MyTheresa assets out of Neiman Marcus to themselves, later sued for fraudulent conveyance
- •Filed Chapter 11 in May 2020; closed stores plus 17 of 22 Last Call outlets; furloughed ~14,000 employees
- •Creditors recovered just 14 cents on the dollar for $418M in unsecured claims
Since the Acquisition
- â–¸Filed for Chapter 11 in May 2020, crushed by $4.8 billion in debt from the leveraged buyout
- â–¸Seven full-line stores permanently closed, including marquee locations in Hudson Yards NYC, Walnut Creek CA, and Washington DC
- â–¸Nearly all Last Call off-price outlet stores closed permanently
- â–¸Almost all 14,000 employees were furloughed during bankruptcy proceedings