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Business

Saudi perfume retailer teams up to buy Barneys

By
Lisa Fickenscher
Published Oct. 28, 2019
Updated Oct. 28, 2019, 6:16 p.m. ET

Barneys’ rocky sales process could grow even more tumultuous this week, thanks to a bidder planning a big Halloween surprise.

David Jackson, a former owner of the luxury department store, plans to stride into a final sales hearing on Thursday with a last-minute bid to buy the 96-year-old department store chain, he told The Post.

Jackson declined to say how big his check will be, but promised that the offer “will be in the zip code” of a $271.4-million bid for Barneys intellectual property by licensing firm Authentic Brands Group.

Jackson — former chief executive of Dubai-based Istithmar World, which bought Barneys in 2007 for $942 million — is coming to the table with Arabian Oud, the largest perfume retailer in the Middle East.

Arabian Oud operates 900 stores around the world, including Saudi Arabia, London, Paris and in NYC’s Time Square.

“They would be a strategic and financial partner,” Jackson said.

Jackson said he has a second Middle Eastern company coughing up funds to buy Barneys, but he declined to identify it.

The team plans to keep Barneys’ seven remaining stores open, including its flagship store on Madison Avenue. Jackson described the stores as “profitable,” despite the company’s August bankruptcy.

“We still believe there is a window for us on the 31st to submit a fully funded proposal and write a check on the spot,” Jackson told The Post.

If Authentic Brands, which owns the licenses for Nine West, Frederick’s of Hollywood and 48 other brands, buys Barneys out of bankruptcy, the flagship store could close depending on ABG’s ability to renegotiate the costly rent, which doubled last year to $30 million a year.

Barneys management, meanwhile, seems to be pinning its hopes on another bidder, Sam Ben-Avraham, a trade show executive who was an investor in streetwear brand, Kith.

On Friday, the department store issued a statement on its Instagram account suggesting its rooting for Ben-Avraham — despite his recent bid of $260 million falling short of ABG’s $271 million offer and getting rejected as a result.

“We received strong interest from Sam Ben-Avraham and a group of investors who are still working through a bid, which includes a full going-concern that would keep stores open and ‪barneys.com‬ operational. There is a sale hearing at court ‪‪on October 31‬st‬ at which time the judge will make a final decision. Thank you for your ongoing support 🖤”

Sources tell The Post that at least two of Ben-Avraham’s backers dropped out of the race after their bid was rejected last week. The two investors — fashion investor Andrew Rosen and billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos, which owns 20 percent of Barneys — did not return emails seeking comment.

Ben-Avraham has been trying to secure funds from a variety of fashion and retail investors and last week even launched a SaveBarneys campaign, writing an open letter to the public to “give Barneys the future it deserves. Let’s breathe new life into this iconic New York establishment.”

All of these efforts to snatch up Barneys in the final hour will make for an explosive sales hearing on Thursday when ABG –which is the only court approved offer right now — could sweeten its bid or walk away from it as its not bound by the terms of its offer after Nov. 1.