Nordstrom’s founding family, along with Mexican retail group El Puerto de Liverpool, is offering to take its namesake department store chain private.
A filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Sept. 4 outlined the buyout proposal, under which the Nordstrom family and Liverpool would offer $23 per share for the stock owned by investors. That represents a 0.8 percent premium to the previous day’s closing price of $22.82.
The Nordstrom family already owns approximately 33.4 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, while Liverpool, which operates more than 300 stores in Mexico, currently holds 9.6 percent of Nordstrom’s stock.
With about 163.65 million shares outstanding, the buyout bid values Nordstrom at $3.76 billion.
The bid comes about five months after Erik Nordstrom, the company’s chief executive, and Pete Nordstrom, its president, expressed renewed interest in buying the company and formed a special committee to weigh a potential go-private deal.
“The special committee and the other independent directors will carefully review the proposal in consultation with independent financial and legal advisors to determine the course of action that is in the best interests of Nordstrom and all shareholders,” Nordstrom said Sept. 4 in a statement. “No action is required by Nordstrom shareholders at this time.”
According to the company, the buyout bid would be financed through a combination of rollover equity and cash commitments by the Nordstrom family and Liverpool, as well as $250 million in new bank financing.
Nordstrom’s shares were up nearly 3 percent, to $23.50, on the morning of Sept. 4.
The Nordstrom founding family has had a difficult time in their efforts to take the century-old company private.
In 2018, for example, the family teamed with private equity firm Leonard Green to propose a buyout offer of $50 per share, but the department store operator rejected that bid, deeming it too low. The discussions ultimately ended with the family struggling to find a new source for the financing needed to increase its offer to a more favorable amount.
The Seattle-based retailer chain traces its roots back to a shoe store opened by Swedish immigrant John Nordstrom and a partner. Erik and Peter Nordstrom are the company’s fourth-generation leaders.
Their late father, former company chairman Bruce Nordstrom, was part of the third generation of family leadership that took over in late 1960s and encouraged the company to go public in 1971. He played a crucial role in steering the company through a period of expansion across the West Coast, including the launch of the lower-priced Nordstrom Rack stores.
Bruce Nordstrom was also one of several Nordstrom family members advocating to make the company private again. He died in May at the age of 90.
