Next to put £500m fashion brand Reiss up for sale
Next to put fashion brand Reiss up for auction in move that could value it at more than £500m
Next is in discussions about selling fashion brand Reiss.
Lord Wolfson’s High Street clothing firm is working with private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which also owns a stake in Reiss, to auction the business – in a deal that could value it at more than £500m, according to Sky News.
They have hired bankers at Raymond James to oversee the sale, with a second round of bids from several suitors now under way.
Reiss was founded in 1971 by David Reiss and now has more than 60 shops in the UK.
Next s working with private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which also owns a stake in Reiss, to auction the business – in a deal that could value it at more than £500m
It was dubbed ‘an outstanding brand with enormous potential’ by Next boss Wolfson when he first snapped up a 25 per cent stake in the company in 2021.
Next now owns 51 per cent of the retailer, after increasing its stake last summer. It was suggested that Next may be using the auction to figure out a market price in order to then purchase Warburg Pincus’s stake.
Next has bolstered its High Street and internet presence by acquiring other retailers teetering on the edge of collapse, such as fashion brand Joules and online sofa seller Made.com.
Next – whose shares edged up 0.2 per cent yesterday – has also signed joint ventures with brands including Victoria’s Secret and GAP UK.