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Neiman Marcus vies for $100 million IPO

NEW YORK - Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus plans to raise up to $100 million from an initial public offering of its common stock.

That amount is likely to change, though, as bankers gauge investor interest. The plan to go public comes about eight years after private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus bought Neiman Marcus for $5.1 billion.

Neiman Marcus has benefited from upscale shoppers that are willing to pay more for its luxury goods. During the recession Neiman Marcus was not as hurt by the consumer spending pullback as other retailers, because its upscale shoppers suffered less.

Neiman Marcus won’t receive any proceeds from the offering.

Neiman Marcus Inc. did not disclose how many shares would be offered, or what the projected price range would be. A regulatory filing by the company also did not disclose what exchange it expects to list the stock on or what ticker symbol it plans to use.

For fiscal 2012, Neiman Marcus had net income of $140.1 million on revenue of $4.35 billion. The retailer had net income of $31.6 million and revenue of $4 billion in fiscal 2011.

EU gives nod to NYSE Euronext takeover

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. won European Union approval to take over NYSE Euronext without conditions after European Union regulators said the deal wouldn’t harm competition for derivatives trading and clearing services.

The European Commission in Brussels said it approved the tie up after a review that focused largely on competition for exchange-traded agricultural and soft commodities derivatives as well as U.S. equity index instruments.

ICE, the energy and commodity futures bourse, agreed on Dec. 21 to acquire NYSE Euronext for cash and stock totaling $8.2 billion at the time. Shareholders of both companies approved the transaction on June 3. The deal means ICE is a step closer to gaining control of Liffe, Europe’s second-largest derivatives market. European Union regulators blocked Deutsche Boerse AG’s purchase of NYSE last year, citing concern over competition in derivatives and clearing.

Merging NYSE Euronext, which owns the biggest exchanges by value of listings in the U.S., France and the Netherlands, with the second-largest futures market underscores both the growing importance of derivatives and the diminishing influence of the NYSE, founded more than two centuries ago. ICE plans to spin off Euronext, the Continental European equity markets of NYSE.

Delta, Virgin Atlantic to link marketing

Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic will market each other’s flights, now that Delta has completed a deal for a 49-percent ownership stake in the British airline, the airlines announced Monday.

Delta spent $360 million to purchase the stake - previously owned by Singapore Airlines - to gain access to the lucrative London market. The European Commission and the U.S Department of Justice signed off last week on the transaction, which closed Monday. Richard Branson’s Virgin Group will continue to own a controlling 51 percent of Virgin Atlantic.

Starting July 3, the two airlines will jointly market flights on 108 routes through a process known as code-sharing. Fliers can earn and redeem miles on each carrier. Each airline will honor the elite status and lounge privileges of the other’s frequent fliers.

The two airlines hope to start sharing revenue on trans-Atlantic flights sometime in 2014.

Virgin Chief Executive Officer Craig Kreeger said his airline is still considering whether it will join the larger Sky-Team alliance anchored by Delta.

  • The Associated Press

Boeing 787 flight cut short on United

HOUSTON - The pilots of a Boeing 787 that left Houston bound for Denver on Monday circled back to Houston after a mechanical problem.

It’s the third time in the past week that a flight involving Boeing’s newest plane was cut short for a mechanical reason.

A United Airlines spokesman said Flight 94 returned to Houston shortly after takeoff Sunday because of “a brake indicator issue.”

Spokesman Jennifer Dohm said the flight made an emergency landing as a precaution, and a maintenance team was examining the plane. She said the airline made other accommodations for the stranded passengers.

Last week a United 787 made an unscheduled landing in Seattle on a Denver-to-Tokyo flight because an indicator showed a problem with the oil filter, and a London-to-Houston flight stopped in Newark, N.J., because of an indication of low oil level.

Boeing officials said those two events were unrelated to the battery issues that led regulators to ground all 787s worldwide for about three months this year. The Federal Aviation Administrators approved 787s to fly again after Boeing made changes to the lithium-ion battery system.

Boeing calls the plane the Dreamliner. It is made largely of light, composite materials that help increase fuel mileage, making it attractive to airlines, which have ordered about 900 of them. About 50 are in airline fleets around the world. United is the only U.S. airline using the plane.

  • The Associated Press

Moody’s looks at NCAA debt-rating cut

Moody’s Investors Service is threatening to downgrade National Collegiate Athletic Association debt because of pending litigation and uncertainty over its amateur business model.

A judge in Oakland, Calif., heard arguments less than a week ago in a lawsuit filed by former University of California-Los Angeles basketball player Ed O’Bannon and others challenging the right of college sports’ governing body, conferences and schools to keep proceeds from selling the rights to athletes’ likenesses in TV broadcasts, video games and on apparel. The plaintiffs say a victory could reduce the $6.4 billion in annual revenue universities earn from athletics by as much as 50 percent.

The ratings company reduced the outlook to negative on the NCAA’s Series 2005 and Series 2010 revenue bonds that were issued through the Indiana Finance Authority.

The bonds are rated Aa2.

The NCAA didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the statement.

Moody’s said it didn’t expect a precipitous decline in the NCAA’s financial position at this time.

  • Bloomberg News

Business, Pages 22 on 06/25/2013

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