Donald Trump Is One of 6 Bidders for Bloomingdale’s

Real estate tycoon Donald J. Trump is one of the top candidates to buy Bloomingdale’s, the ritzy department store chain now owned by troubled Campeau Corp.

A spokesman for the Trump Organization said Wednesday that Trump was bidding for Bloomingdale’s but declined to give details.

Campeau has said there are five or six serious bidders for Bloomingdale’s and that it will make an announcement about the sale by February.

It will not divulge the names of the possible buyers who have been given detailed financial information about Bloomingdale’s subject to a confidentiality agreement.

Toronto-based Campeau bought the 17-store Bloomingdale’s chain last year as part of its $6.6-billion acquisition of Federated Department Stores Inc. of Cincinnati.

Since then it has run into cash flow problems so severe that Federated and Allied Stores Corp., Campeau’s other U.S. retail unit, have said they may be forced to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection next year.

Campeau must sell Bloomingdale’s, valued by industry analysts at $1 billion, as part of its restructuring plan. It needs the money to pay down its huge $10-billion debt.

Buying “Bloomies” would not be Trump’s first foray into the retail market.

Trump already owns a 27.2% stake in Alexander’s Inc., a department store chain with 12 stores in Metropolitan New York, including a Manhattan branch on Lexington Avenue and East 58th Street, next to Bloomingdale’s flagship store.

A newspaper report said other possible Bloomingdale’s buyers include shopping center owner JMB Realty Corp. based in Chicago, Japan’s Tokyu Department Store Co. and a group led by Joseph E. Brooks, chairman of the Ann Taylor stores.

An investment group headed by Bloomingdale’s Chairman Marvin Traub is also among the contenders, a spokeswoman for the chain, Katie Locke, said.

In another development, two clothing makers have joined merchandise credit firms in suspending business with Campeau Corp.’s Federated and Allied department stores as a result of Campeau’s financial situation.

Finity Sportswear Ltd. president Stanley Stern said that if the retailers seek protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, his company would have to demand prepayment on its next shipment, which is Jan. 20.

“A delay in our payment would be very devastating,” he said.

Federated and Allied, based in Cincinnati, warned in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that they could run out of operating cash as early as January if lenders do not restructure their $7-billion debt.

Herman Gordon, senior vice president of Leslie Fay Cos., said the company wants to continue business with Federated and Allied, but cannot risk having the retailers seek protection in bankruptcy court.

“We’d have to settle claims with something less than a full amount. That is a risk we cannot afford to run,” Gordon said.

Carol Sanger, Campeau’s vice president for corporate communications in Cincinnati, said the company had no comment.