Barneys New York Moves Closer to Potential Deal

Barneys New York might just have found its savior — or at least its stalking horse.  The retailer’s attorney told a New York bankruptcy court on Thursday that it is in “advanced negotiations” with a suitor preparing to acquire the luxury retailer as a going concern. This would-be buyer is working to hammer out go-forward arrangements with other interested parties, including the landlord for Barneys’ Madison Avenue and Beverly Hills flagships.  Multiple sources identified the front-runner as Sam Ben-Avraham, the Kith investor and retailer who started the Project and Liberty Fairs trade shows, with the sale price said to be in the neighborhood of the $220 million floor value previously identified by the court. While five parties officially indicated their interest in Barneys last week, Ben-Avraham was said to be one of the two players interested in taking the whole company as a going concern, while other players were more interested in the intellectual property or other assets. Among the other players said to have taken a close look at Barneys were Russia’s Mercury Group, which could not immediately be reached for comment, as well as Authentic Brands Group, Nordstrom Inc. and Neiman Marcus parent Ares. If Ben-Avraham did successfully pull together a deal,

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