Mytheresa.com not part of Neiman Marcus Chapter 11 proceedings

US department store group Neiman Marcus has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but luxury etailer Mytheresa.com, which Neiman's parent company acquired in 2014, is not part of the proceedings.

Neiman Marcus made its expected filing today with CEO Geoffrey van Raemdonck saying that the company was "facing unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has placed inexorable pressure on our business".

It has said it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 this autumn has secured $675 million in financing from creditors to keep operating during the restructuring. Those creditors now hold over two-thirds of the company's debt.

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus operates 43 stores across the US, which were all closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but 10 have since re-opened for kerbside collections as some US states have eased lockdown measures.

The company was acquired by private equity firm Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which bought it in 2013 for $6bn.

Mytheresa.com, the Munich-based luxury etailer and boutique, was acquired a year later but its CEO Michael Kliger has stressed in a statement that it is an independent entity and not owned by Neiman Marcus itself.

He added that he could not comment on the situation in the US but said that Mytheresa.com would continue to operate as an independent entity.

“Mytheresa is not part of the Chapter 11 proceedings of Neiman Marcus. As in the past years, Mytheresa will continue to operate successfully as a stand-alone entity – legally, financially and operationally. Of course we are facing difficult times, but we can already see, that being an online luxury retailer gives us resilience and the trend to e-commerce will be accelerated by this crisis," Kliger said.

Neiman Marcus's move was anticipated and it becomes the second high profile US business to file for Chapter 11 during the crisis, following on from J.Crew's move earlier this week.