High street giant Marks & Spencer is reportedly on the brink of buying upmarket fashion brand Jaeger after its collapse last autumn.
The retail giant is understood to be in the final throes of sealing a deal to buy the Jaeger brand and stock, as first reported by Sky News.
But any deal is reportedly not set to include the fashion chain’s stores, which have already been cut by 13 to 63 in a move that also cut 103 jobs.
Jaeger was put into administration alongside sister firm Peacocks in November by Dubai-based owner and retail billionaire Philip Day.
The tycoon’s EWM Group had already called in administrators for its Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Ponden Home business earlier that month.
Jaeger’s online shopping operations remain open and have continued to trade as normal throughout the period since administration.
The Press Association reports that the move to buy Jaeger would match with M&S’s new strategy of selling third-party brands with existing tie-ups with the likes of Nobody’s Child and Ghost.
PA also reports that it is also thought to be among the retailers in the running for some of Sir Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia Group brands, such as Topshop.
It comes ahead of M&S’s Christmas trading update on Friday, which should reveal the scale of the impact on its clothing stores of lockdowns and tighter restrictions.
The group is expected to report strong food sales. The grocery industry was buoyed by the closure of bars, restaurants and cafes across most of the UK.
Its clothing sales performance will be watched closely, however, to see how much of the impact of store closures was offset by online trade.
M&S and Jaeger’s administrators FRP Advisory both declined to comment.
