Nordstrom’s financial issues are making it tough to go private

Efforts by Nordstrom’s founding family to take the retailer private are struggling as sources of traditional financing have dried up, The Post has learned.

At the same time, obtaining enough financing from buyout fund Leonard Green & Partners is not a sure thing, sources said.

“The math is becoming difficult,” one source in the lending industry said.

Talks involving the Nordstrom family — led by brothers Blake, Erik and Peter — have renewed, so a deal, while out of reach so far, could happen, sources cautioned.

The odds today of a successful go-private are no greater than 50/50, according to one source close to the situation.

“They are struggling to get traditional financing,” a lending source said. “Banks continue to balk about lending them all the money they need, leaving Leonard Green in a pickle.”

The PE firm — whose past retail investments have included J. Crew, Shake Shack and SoulCycle — is willing to invest equity to receive preferred shares in a buyout of Nordstrom that would be senior to the family’s equity, the source said.

Nevertheless, there is a limit to how much the firm is prepared to invest, the lending source said.

Nordstrom shares on Wednesday rose 28 cents, to $51.31, giving the retailer an $8.55 billion market cap.

The company on Thursday is expected to report a roughly 7 percent rise in fourth quarter revenue, according to Thompson Reuters data.

The Nordstrom family, which owns 31 percent of the chain, in October canceled earlier plans to take the company private when they could not secure financing at what they considered viable rates.

Banks like JPMorgan Chase asked the Nordstrom family for the flexibility to charge a 12 percent interest rate on the bonds they underwrite, The Post reported Oct. 1.

Financing conditions for big retail buyouts now are “maybe a little better” than they were then, the source close to the situation said, but still added, “I’m not sure much has changed.”

CNBC on Friday reported the family was hoping to make an offer by the time the company reports its quarterly earnings on Thursday.

The Nordstrom family could not be reached. Leonard Green declined to comment.