Uniqlo Barneys Buyout?

A cool $900 million has been offered for the infamous retail brand; surprised? Don’t be… the market assault began at the roots (in a manner of speaking) and is now moving towards the top of the pile.

Fast Retailing has the details:

On July 2, 2007, FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. (“FAST RETAILING”) submitted a proposal to acquire Barneys New York, Inc. (“Barneys”) for $900 million (approx 110 billion yen). Barneys is currently wholly-owned by the US-based apparel maker Jones Apparel Group, Inc. (“Jones”, NYSE:JNY). Jones’ Board of Directors has concluded that FAST RETAILING’s proposal is reasonably likely to lead to a superior offer for Barneys.

On June 22, 2007, Jones announced an agreement to sell Barneys to Istithmar, a Dubai based private equity firm for $825 million (approx 100 billion yen). FAST RETAILING had previously communicated its interest in acquiring Barneys to Jones last fall and is submitting its proposal under the provisions of the Jones agreement with Istithmar, which allows Jones to consider superior proposals for Barneys if received prior to July 22, 2007.

This offer reflects our expectations regarding the attractive long term growth potential of Barneys and the synergy potential with the FAST RETAILING Group.

Yep, Uniqlo’s going toe to toe in a bidding war with the most luxurious, rapidly expanding cush-market in the world. Exciting stuff; this one’s got us on the edge of our seats. We watched Top Shop designs fly off the shelves at Barney’s two months ago; perhaps Uniqlo is preemptively moving in on that success.

News feed:

NY Times

Japan News Review

Forbes