Neiman Marcus Creditors Extend Payment Deadline

Dallas—Neiman Marcus Group Inc.’s creditors are throwing the retailer a life line, giving the company a few more years to pay off its mounting debts.

The luxury retailer is saddled with $4.46 billion in debt as of its latest quarterly results.

More than 55 percent of its lenders and more than 60 percent of its unsecured noteholders have agreed to extend maturities on the company’s debt, Neiman Marcus announced in a statement Monday.

At least 95 percent of both its lenders and noteholders would need to give approval, but the percentage can be lowered at the company’s discretion.

The retailer would have until 2023 to pay its term loans and until 2024 for the unsecured notes, the latter of which would be paid via a debt exchange, which the company expects to begin in April.

Neiman Marcus owes more than $2.5 billion to the creditors in agreement and said it will pay down $550 million of its debt to term loan lenders.

“This transaction provides substantial value to our lenders and creates ample runway to execute on and complete Neiman Marcus Group’s transformation plan into a luxury customer platform,” Neiman Marcus Group CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said.

“The commitments we have obtained for this transaction are a validation of our business and transformation strategy and our leadership team,” he added.

The term loan holders who agree to the arrangement will receive a higher interest rate than those who opt out.

The lenders and noteholders who choose not to participate will also be prevented from taking part “in a transaction on these terms at a future date,” the company said.

The statement also addressed ongoing legal issues related to the company’s 2014 acquisition of German luxury fashion e-commerce site myTheresa.

Its myTheresa segment raked in about $345 million in fiscal 2018, boasting a high level of customer loyalty.

A recent company presentation noted that 26 percent of its revenue stems from the top 3 percent of customers and touted its potential for international expansion.

The retailer transferred its myTheresa unit to a corporate entity held by its private equity owners in September 2018, according to an SEC filing.

Investment firm Marble Ridge pursued legal action, arguing that the transaction was a way to move the valuable assets out of the reach of creditors, but the case was dismissed by a Texas judge due to lack of “subject matter jurisdiction.”

The company said all claims related to the company’s transfer of myTheresa