MyTheresa, the online luxury fashion retailer, plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange to take advantage of robust equity markets.
People familiar with the issue said MyTheresa owner Neiman Marcus would be working with Morgan Stanley on the listing. The listing could take place around April, and the deal could potentially go for as much as $500 million.
MyTheresa sells clothes from 250 of the world's most popular fashion brands. Their roster includes names like Prada, Gucci, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana.
The website's contemporaries, including Zalando, Global Fashion and Asos, are based in Europe, but MyTheresa wants to list in New York, like fellow fashion retailers Farfetch and The RealReal. Both Farfetch and The RealReal had strong openings, but later ended up struggling. Both of their stock prices traded below the initial public offering (IPO) prices.
The IPO from MyTheresa would follow a trend of well-performing retailers branching out from the struggling private equity firms that own them. BG Partners took out its well-performing Chewy brand from PetSmart last year, and TPG-owned clothing chain J Crew is exploring an IPO for its Madewell brand.
Some of those carve-outs have proved contentious with creditors for their parent brands. Neiman Marcus has faced a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court over a debt restructuring that creditors said caused a decline in the value of MyTheresa.
In 2014, Neiman Marcus bought MyTheresa for around €150 million, and last April, they said they were exploring "strategic alternatives" to the website.
Neiman Marcus has struggled in the past with net losses in the tens of thousands. Last year, the company settled on an agreement with noteholders on the lengths of term loans and notes. The company has been undergoing changes, adding new executives and aiming to transition to a "luxury" platform.
