Department Store Sector Heats Up As Nordstrom Considers Go-Private Deal

Nordstrom, Inc JWN shares were up 23 percent in Thursday’s pre-market session after announcing members of the Nordstrom family have formed a group to explore pursuing a go-private deal involving the group buying 100 percent of outstanding shares.

The spike put Nordstrom shares at their highest price since May 11, hovering around $46.

The group has not yet made an offer to the company, which said that it couldn't make any assurances regarding a potential transaction.

Sympathetic Moves Seen

Several other department stores were trading higher on the news, including J C Penney Company Inc JCP, Macy’s Inc M and Kohl’s Corporation KSS.

The SPDR S&P Retail (ETF) XRT was also trading slightly higher.

Retail Weighs Options

Several retailers have considered pursuing similar moves after facing increasingly harsh competition in the last few years.

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In January last year, Kohl’s also considered going private and saw its shares rise on the news.

There has been chatter that Hudson’s Bay HBAYYF is looking to buy Macy’s, and that Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN has been interested in taking over BJ’s Wholesale Club.

At last check, shares of Nordstrom were up 13.41 percent at $45.91.

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