Frasers Group has increased its shareholding in Hugo Boss, but fell short of taking full control of the German fashion house.
The owner of House of Fraser, Sports Direct and Flannels brands, which last week added luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols, has been pursuing a voluntary public takeover offer of the Metzingen-based company.
Today it said it had received acceptances for almost 18% of Hugo Boss shares, taking its total holding to 48%.
In June, Frasers made a cash bid of €38 per share, valuing Hugo Boss at nearly €2bn (£1.73bn).
But the German company’s board told shareholders to reject the offer saying it was “inadequate from a financial point of view”. It represented only a 4% premium to Hugo Boss’s shares at the time.
Frasers, which is 73%-owned by Mike Ashley, has stocked Hugo Boss products in its stores for some years and has been raising its holding since first taking a stake in the group in June 2020.
Its interest in the luxury end of the retail market has also seen it take a large stake in the British handbag maker Mulberry and become the fifth-biggest shareholder of Burberry, taking a 4.2% stake last month that was worth about £160m.
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