U.S. luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus files for IPO

U.S. luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus files for IPO

© Rick Wilking / Reuters

The 100-year-old retailer – backed by Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Ares Management LP – sells apparel, handbags, shoes, cosmetics and designer jewelry.

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus operates 41 department stores bearing its name, the famed Bergdorf Goodman store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue and the Last Call off-price chain.

Neiman Marcus's previous owners, TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus first planned to take the company public in July 2013, but decided instead to sell the company to CPPIB and Ares Management for $6 billion. (http://reut.rs/1E6FfEy)

Neiman Marcus's latest IPO plans comes as the growth in the North America luxury market is expected to outpace global overseas.

The North American luxury market is expected to grow 4.1 percent a year compared with the 3.6 percent rate expected for the global market, according to Euromonitor International.

Shares of Jimmy Choo , a luxury shoe retailer, have gained 17.5 percent since debuting on the London Stock Exchange last year.

Neiman Marcus sells its products under brands such as Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and MyTheresa. About 38 percent of its customers have a median household income of over $200,000, the company said in a filing. (http://bit.ly/1N8GjNj)

The company, which also sells merchandise designed by fashion houses such as Chanel, Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton, gets about 40 percent of its revenue from its "InCircle loyalty program" members, who spend about 11 times more than other customers.

Neiman Marcus's revenue rose 4.1 percent to $4.84 billion in the fiscal year ended Aug. 2, 2014. The company has posted 22 consecutive quarters of positive comparable store sales growth through the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2015.

The company's reported a loss of $147.2 million, compared with a profit of $163.7 million a year earlier.

Neiman Marcus said it intends to list its common stock under the symbol "NMG". The company did not name the underwriters for the offering.

The company set a nominal fundraising target of $100 million. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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