The Nordstrom family is scrambling to salvage its plan to take the high-end retailer private after running into trouble raising financing for a leveraged buyout that could be worth $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The founding family, whose members still run Nordstrom Inc., and private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners are considering a new structure for the buyout that would include less debt. The family is trying to come up with more equity, but it is unclear where it might come from, and adding equity would dilute the family’s ownership stake. Under the original terms, the Nordstrom family was to contribute its 31% stake in the company, which was valued at $2.5 billion as recently as Aug. 1. Leonard Green was to contribute $1 billion in equity, leaving the banks to sell about $6.5 billion in debt. The banks are concerned they won’t be able to sell the debt before the holiday shopping season, an important bellwether for retailers, and would have to hold it until next year, exposing them to the risk that Nordstrom’s business, or the broader market, deteriorates, the people said. If a deal is going to be struck this year, it likely has to happen in the next two weeks.
