Boohoo has confirmed it has made an offer to acquire womenswear brand Karen Millen and sister brand Coast.
The Manchester-based online fashion retailer confirmed it had made the offer today in response to media speculation.
Sky News reported yesterday (August 5) Boohoo was in talks to acquire the brands through an insolvency process called pre-pack administration.
The retailer said in a statement it “believes the online business of these brands would represent highly complementary additions to its scalable multi-brand platform and extend the group’s offer as part of its vision to lead the fashion e-commerce market globally”.
However, it acknowledged discussions “may or may not result in agreement of a transaction”.
“A further announcement will be made when appropriate,” it added.
Karen Millen operates in 65 countries and, together with Coast, employs more than 1,000 staff in the UK across its 57 stores.
Despite the ongoing decline of the retail sector, Boohoo, founded in Manchester by Mahmud Kamani and Carole Kane in 2006, turned over £857m for the year ended February 28 with pre-tax profits of £59.9m.
In March, Kumani and Kane, previously joint chief executives at the group, handed over the reins to Primark’s former chief operating officer John Lyttle.
Mr Lyttle spoke to BusinessLive this week about his first few months of taking on the role of CEO at Manchester’s fast-growing fast-fashion retailer and bucking the trend of decline in the retail sector.
He told BusinessLive: “The fundamentals of launching great products at the right time, good pricing and marketing are still the key principles whether you’re online or whether you’re in a physical store.”
