NORDSTROM STOCK DROPS ON REPORTS OF FAILING PRIVATIZATION DEAL

Seattle-based retail giant Nordstrom saw its stock fall over 7 percent in Monday morning trading, likely fueled in part by a report in Sunday’s New York Post that the Nordstrom family’s plan to take the company private had hit a major roadblock.

In June, the Nordstrom family, which owns about 31 percent of the outstanding stock, disclosed it was considering privatizing  the company. Reports emerged last month that the Nordstroms were attempting to enter into a partnership with private equity firm Leonard Green & Co, which would then contribute roughly $1 billion in equity to help fund the deal. A total of $10 billion would probably needed to be raised to buy out all the outstanding stock.

However, the Post reported on Sunday that their sources have told them that “Leonard Green’s participation was contingent on bank financing getting arranged at what it considered acceptable levels, and Wall Street banks, reluctant to carry the risks of such a deal on their books through what looks like a difficult holiday season for shopping malls, have either balked or responded with demands for punishing interest rates that would sap the potential profitability of the deal.”

Neither Nordstrom nor Leonard Green has made any comments on the reports.

Nordstrom currently operates 122 department stores and 221 off-price Nordstrom Rack stores.