Frasers Group makes £1.73bn bid for Hugo Boss

The retail group already owns just over a quarter of Hugo Boss, having steadily built up the stake since 2020, but said on Wednesday it wanted to buy the rest of it for €1.98bn (£1.73bn).

Hugo Boss said it would "thoroughly examine the offer and issue a reasoned statement".

Frasers, formerly known as Sports Direct, owns House of Fraser, Game, Jack Wills, Evans Cycles and many other brands. It is also the largest shareholder in Boohoo but has had a frosty relationship with the firm.

Frasers has built a reputation for swooping in to buy retail brands which have fallen into administration, but its gradual increase in ownership of profit-making Hugo Boss over several years is a different approach.

Because it has grown its shareholding so much, Frasers is now close to the 30% ownership level that German law requires it to make an offer for the whole company.

The deal would value Hugo Boss at €38 a share, higher than the €36.5 it closed at on Wednesday.

Frasers said that it expected the takeover to be completed by the end of this year, providing it passes all the legal checks.

Hugo Boss said the "unsolicited" offer had "not been coordinated with the company", adding that it would "inform its shareholders and the public about further developments and next steps".

Frasers said on Wednesday that it had "a strong track record in making strategic investments".

It said it was "a long-term investor" in Hugo Boss and that it "remains supportive" of its chair and chief executive.

It has not had as friendly a relationship with Debenhams, which is still formally named Boohoo.

Last year, Boohoo tried to formally rename itself as Debenhams, but Frasers used its shareholding votes to block the name change.

Chief executive Dan Finley told the BBC earlier this week it would "operate to all intents and purposes as Debenhams Group".

"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 the change.

Since first investing in it in 2023, Frasers has written several open letters about Boohoo and lashed out at the firm in the press, with a lot of the criticism aimed at Boohoo's co-founder Mahmud Kamani.