Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has made a £1.73bn (€1.98bn) takeover offer for the entire German fashion brand Hugo Boss, piling pressure on the label after steadily building a stake of just over a quarter since 2020.
The retail group, which owns House of Fraser, Game and Jack Wills, said it wanted to buy the rest of the company after its shareholding crept close to the 30% threshold that triggers a mandatory offer under German law. Hugo Boss, which had not been expecting the move, said it would “thoroughly examine the offer and issue a reasoned statement”.
“Frasers Group offers £1.73bn to buy all of Hugo Boss after building a 25% stake since 2020.”
Frasers has built a reputation for swooping in to buy retail brands that have fallen into administration, but its gradual accumulation of a profit-making business like Hugo Boss marks a different strategy. The deal values Hugo Boss at €38 a share, above the €36.50 closing price, and the group expects it to be completed by the end of the year, pending legal checks.
Frasers described itself as “a long-term investor” in Hugo Boss and said it “remains supportive” of its chair and chief executive. The offer is “unsolicited” and “not been coordinated with the company”, Hugo Boss said, adding that it would inform shareholders and the public on next steps.
The bid comes amid a rocky relationship with Boohoo, the online fashion group in which Frasers is the largest shareholder. Boohoo bought the Debenhams brand out of administration after Frasers decided against it, and last year Frasers used its shareholding to block Boohoo’s attempt to formally rename itself as Debenhams Group. Dan Finley, Boohoo’s chief executive, told the BBC this week that the business would “operate to all intents and purposes as Debenhams Group” regardless. “It’s just the formal change to the name that’s listed at Companies House … required a special resolution that didn’t pass,” he said, adding that he did not know why Frasers blocked it.
Since first investing in 2023, Frasers has written multiple open letters about Boohoo and publicly criticised co-founder Mahmud Kamani. Mike Ashley, who founded Frasers when it was called Sports Direct, remains its largest shareholder, with his son-in-law as chief executive. The controversial businessman has previously called unhappy investors “cry babies”, faced criticism for working conditions in Sports Direct factories, and once vomited into a firepit.