Saks Fifth Avenue’s parent company HBC is to acquire Neiman Marcus Group, the owner of luxury US department stores Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, for US$2.65bn.
Upon closure, the US-Canadian company intends to combine its luxury retail assets under the newly-established Saks Global.
The deal was sealed with help from e-commerce giant Amazon, which is taking a minority stake in Saks Global.
The new entity will group Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman together with Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks off 5th, each of which will continue under its respective brand.
Saks Global will also include HBC’s US real estate assets and Neiman Marcus Group’s real estate assets, creating a $7bn portfolio of retail real estate holdings.
There are 36 Neiman Marcus stores in the US, while Bergdorf Goodman operates two stores sitting across from one another on New York’s 5th Avenue.
The current CEO of saks.com, Marc Metrick, will take the reins as chief executive of Saks Global.
“For years, many in the industry have anticipated this transaction and the benefits it would drive for customers, partners and employees,” said HBC’s Executive Chairman and CEO Richard Baker.
“This is an exciting time in luxury retail, with technological advancements creating new opportunities to redefine the customer experience, and we look forward to unlocking significant value for our customers, brand partners and employees.”
The move will see HBC’s Canadian business emerge as a standalone entity, separate from Saks Global.
HBC will continue to wholly own its Canadian retail and real estate assets, including Hudson’s Bay, which operates thebay.com and the Hudson’s Bay network of stores, as well as a CAD$2bn real estate portfolio.
Saks Global as a combined entity will compete with Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.