The family that founded Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) is exploring the possibility of taking the U.S. department store private, revisiting an effort that did not succeed six years ago, Reuters reported Tuesday.
JWN surged more than 12% at the market open.
To facilitate this potential transaction, the company has tapped Morgan Stanley and Centerview Partners to engage with private equity firms and assess their interest in a deal.
However, the outcome of these discussions remains uncertain, the report says, with no guarantees that a deal will happen.
Nordstrom's founding family has been attempting to privatize the retailer since 2017. A year later, the company formed a special committee within its board to assess these efforts, but talks with the family collapsed as the two parties could not reach an agreement on the price.