Nordstrom, one of the country’s oldest department stores, said Monday that it would be taken private by its founding family and a Mexican retail business, reaching an agreement after months of speculation over a potential buyout of the business.
The company will be acquired by members of the Nordstrom family and El Puerto de Liverpool, a Mexican real estate and department store company that has owned a stake in Nordstrom since 2022. Including debt, the deal values Nordstrom at $6.25 billion, the company said in a statement.
Shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, the company said. That’s about 42 percent higher than its closing price on March 18, when news of a potential sale was first reported, the company said. A month later, Nordstrom said it had formed a special committee of its board of directors to weigh an offer from Erik and Pete Nordstrom.
The company said Monday that it would also authorize a special dividend of up to 25 cents per share if the transaction closed.
The deal will leave the Nordstrom family with a majority ownership stake in the company, which was founded in 1901 in Seattle, the company said.
In a statement, Erik Nordstrom, chief executive of the company and the fourth generation of his family to run it, noted the chain’s longevity in the retail industry.
“Today marks an exciting new chapter for the business,” Mr. Nordstrom said. “On behalf of my family, we look forward to working with our teams to ensure Nordstrom thrives long into the future.”
Department stores have struggled to find their footing as e-commerce continues to eat away at their market share. Nordstrom has fared better than its competitors, in part because of its favorable real estate and higher income clientele, but even it has faced challenges. The sale price is well below the $78 a share that Nordstrom fetched in public markets about a decade ago.
In November, the company said that its net sales had expanded in the third quarter, as did its gross profit, as it was able to sell more merchandise at full price rather than having to discount it.
Its off-price Nordstrom Rack business has also been strong, nabbing a 3.9 percent increase in comparable sales last quarter.
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