TD Bank To Buy Nordstrom' US Visa & Private Label Consumer Credit Card Portfolio

(RTTNews) - Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) and TD Bank Group (TD, TD.TO) announced an agreement by which TD will acquire Nordstrom's existing U.S. Visa and private label consumer credit card portfolio, which currently totals approximately $2.2 billion in receivables.

In addition, the two companies have entered into a separate long-term agreement under which TD will become the exclusive U.S. issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and private label consumer credit cards to Nordstrom customers.

The transaction enables Nordstrom to retain all aspects of customer-facing activities, aligning with Nordstrom's strategy of enhancing the customer experience while allowing for improvement in capital efficiency.

As per the agreement, Nordstrom will sell its credit card receivables to TD at the time of closing. The companies have also entered into a long-term program agreement under which TD, as exclusive issuer in the U.S., will own Nordstrom Visa and private label consumer credit card accounts and fund the associated receivables.

Nordstrom will continue to perform account servicing functions, maintaining the current deep integration between its credit and retail operations. Nordstrom will continue to fund and manage the Nordstrom Rewards loyalty program, Nordstrom debit cards, and Nordstrom employee accounts.

The terms of the Nordstrom Rewards loyalty program will remain unchanged as a result of this transaction. Nordstrom will be entitled to receive a substantial portion of net revenue generated by the credit card accounts.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of calendar 2015 and to have a minimal impact on Nordstrom cardholders, customers and employees.

TD will fund the transaction with available resources. Nordstrom is currently assessing plans for the use of proceeds in a manner that aligns with its capital allocation approach of returning shareholder value.

Nordstrom expects to provide a further update on the financial impact of the transaction in the second half of 2015.