Neiman Marcus readies $3.75B buyout loan

NEW YORK, United Kingdom - Neiman Marcus Group set a Monday bank meeting to launch a $3.75 billion loan backing the $6 billion takeover of the U.S. luxury department store chain by two private investors, sources told Thomson Reuters LPC.

The funding is split between a $2.95 billion, seven-year first-lien covenant-lite term loan and an $800 million, five-year asset-based loan. Price guidance is to be determined.

The buyout loan will launch at a bank meeting set for 1:30 p.m. EST in New York.

Credit Suisse leads the first-lien loan joined by RBC, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Deutsche Bank leads the asset-based loan joined by Credit Suisse, RBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, GE Capital, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BMO, SunTrust and UBS.

Commitments are due on October 16.

Neiman Marcus, it was reported last month, is being sold to Ares Management LLC and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The transaction keeps the retailer in private hands, as the two buyers will take equal stakes and keep an undisclosed minority share to current owners TPG Capital LP and Warburg Pincus LLC.

The borrower on the loans is listed pre-acquisition as Mariposa Merger Sub LLC, and post-takeover as Neiman Marcus Group LTD. Ratings and call protection are to be determined.

Dallas-based retailer operates 41 namesake department stores as well as the Bergdorf Goodman store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue and the Last Call outlet chain.