Neiman Marcus may soon become an expensive plaything for a wealthy foreign regime.
The private-equity owners behind the Dallas-based luxury department store chain — which also owns Bergdorf Goodman — plan to shop it to sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia, according to a report yesterday.
Those funds include the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Qatar Investment Authority, according to the Wall Street Journal.
All three have spotty human-rights records, but wouldn’t be the first such funds to tuck into a US luxury retailer.
Dubai-based Istithmar scooped up Barneys New York in 2007 for $942.3 million — and got clobbered on its investment as it pursued an ill-advised growth spurt during a recession.
Neiman is owned by buyout giants TPG and Warburg Pincus, which acquired the retailer in 2005 for $5.1 billion.
Singapore’s fund and Kuwait’s fund both bought minority stakes in TPG in 2011.
Neiman has hired Credit Suisse Group to explore a sale of the company or public offering, according to the report.