Who We Are

NRDC Equity Partners, headquartered in Purchase, NY, is a private equity firm that acquires operating companies in the retail, leisure, lodging, and commercial real estate sectors.

NRDC Equity Partners leverages the 45 year track record and expertise of National Realty & Development Corp. NRDC Equity Partners was created to harness that expertise and analyze operating companies not only for their business value, but for the value of their real estate platform.

Preferred Investment Profile

NRDC Equity Partners is interested in growth or turn around opportunities in the retail, leisure, real estate, or lodging sector. NRDC looks to invest from $50 million to $750 million of equity in acquisitions that require a total investment of $100 million to $5 billion. As a principal and financial sponsor, NRDC Equity Partners has the flexibility to work alone or with a syndicate of other investors.

Investment Process

Because of its special real estate expertise, NRDC Equity Partners is often asked to join other private equity acquisition syndicates, but its primary focus is on generating and executing its own investment ideas by using its unique process of analysis. Our approach is not segmented, but is instead a holistic method of investment research that simultaneously examines the following:

• the strength of and prospects for the operating business
  
• the current and future best use value of the real estate platform
  
• the relationship between the real estate platform and the operating business

By triangulating these elements, we assess the business not only as the prospective business owner, but also as the prospective landlord from which we can determine a more accurate value and, therefore, an appropriate price for the investment. NRDC Equity Partners also develops strategies to improve the dynamic between the real estate platform and the operating business in order to increase the future value of the investment.

Recent Investment History

NRDC is part of an investment syndicate that acquired the Hudson's Bay Company, Canada's largest retailer, in 2006.

In October, 2006, NRDC closed on its acquisition of the Lord & Taylor department store chain, which it acquired from Federated Department Stores (now Macy's, Inc.)

In October, 2007, NRDC raised $400 Million through a Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC)

In March, 2008, NRDC closed on its acquisition of Fortunoff, a seller of fine jewelry and home goods since 1922

NRDC Equity Partners has purchased Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Company for an undisclosed sum, with an equity check of $500 million. The firm will merge Hudson's Bay with its existing portfolio companies, Lord & Taylor and Fortunoff to create a new holding company called Hudson's Bay Trading Company, L.P. The new combined company will have annual sales of about $8 billion, 75,000 employees and some 650 stores with 55 million square feet of retail spaces across all 10 Canadian provinces and nine U.S. states, mainly in the Northeast.