Frasers Group, owned by Mike Ashley, has proposed an £83m takeover bid for Mulberry and criticised its board after allegedly being excluded from discussions about a £10m fund raise. The retail giant, which holds a 37% stake in Mulberry, offered £83m for the remaining shares of the luxury fashion brand, valuing each share at 130p. This represents an approximately 11% premium to the closing share price on 27 September, as reported by .
The offer was made following Mulberry's announcement of a subscription of new ordinary shares by Challice, Mulberry's majority shareholder, aiming to raise around £10m. Frasers Group claimed it was unaware of the subscription until just before its announcement and criticised the "total lack of engagement", describing it as an "untenable position for Frasers and the other minority holders of Mulberry shares". Mulberry struggles with weak demand The indicative offer was launched roughly 24 hours after the subscription announcement.
Frasers has until 5pm on 28 October to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Mulberry or declare that it does not intend to make an offer. This indicative bid from Frasers Group comes after Mulberry reported a decrease in profit, with a pre-tax loss of £34.1m compared to a pre-tax profit of £13.
2m in 2023. UK retail sales dropped to £84.7m, down from £87.
7m in 2023, due to changes in consumer spending habits amid "were impacted by the challenging macro-economic uncertainty and inflationary pressur.