Two of the most prominent luxury stores in the United States, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, are merging, with a little help from Amazon.
Toronto-based Saks owner HBC will acquire Dallas-based Neiman Marcus in a blockbuster $2.65 billion deal that was reported Wednesday by the New York Post. Neiman Marcus was sold for $6 billion to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Ares Management private equity firm just two months prior to the acquisition by Saks.
Amazon will provide “technology and logistics services” to the operation and will become a minority investor in the new company, to be named “Saks Global,” as will business software giant Salesforce. Both firms already provide some services to Saks.
The deal is pending regulatory approval and could take up to nine months for the Federal Trade Commission to give a final green light.
If the merger goes through, the new company will be led by Saks CEO Mark Metrick and will operate some 175 stores, including Bergdorf Goodman in New York City, owned by Neiman Marcus.
