Istithmar World Capital receives IDD award

The private equity and alternative investment house headquartered in Dubai, announced the completion of its acquisition of luxury retailer at a purchase price of $942.3m from Jones Apparel Group. Barneys operates 34 stores in the US under the 'Barneys New York' trade name, which are operated in four primary formats: flagship, regional, co-op and outlet. Additionally, the company operates four semi annual Warehouse sale events, and has a growing e-commerce business.

'Istithmar World Capital is a big believer in iconic brands and they love the luxury market,' says Marc Cooper, a managing director and lead M&A banker at Peter J. Solomon.

'It's the largest and first noteworthy acquisition of a US retailer by a fund in the Middle East,' says Ian Sugarman, a director in Citigroup's global consumer group and a lead banker on the transaction. 'Barneys used to be a very New York-centric brand, but as it has grown, there is more of a mainstream acceptance of the brand today,' Sugarman adds.

It was among the first buyout-related syndications to go to market following the slump in the credit markets in the summer of 2007. 'Given the challenges of the financial markets at the time of closing, combined with the fact that Istithmar World Capital is a relatively new entrant in the US institutional lending market, the successful syndication of the deal was pretty impressive,' Sugarman says. Citi's Sugarman lauded Istithmar's 'ingenuity' and Barneys' 'very strong' management team, which stayed in place after the acquisition.