The high street billionaire Mike Ashley is in talks to buy Matchesfashion, the luxury clothing site, in a deal that would crystallise heavy losses for Apax Partners, its private equity backer since 2017.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Ashley’s Frasers Group is in detailed negotiations about a deal that could see it take control of Matchesfashion – which sells fashion brands including Balenciaga, Gucci and Valentino – within days.
City sources said that Frasers was among a small number of parties who submitted offers earlier this week.
Next, run by Lord Wolfson, is also said to have expressed an interest in buying Matchesfashion.
One insider said that if completed, Frasers was likely to pay in excess of £50m for the business, which has struggled under a succession of leadership teams prior to the arrival of Nick Beighton, the former ASOS chief, last year.
The deal would be a solvent one, according to insiders.
Under Mr Beighton, the platform’s performance has improved markedly with a renewed focus on operational efficiency and the sharpness of its marketing.
It has, nevertheless, been caught out by the sharp slowdown in global luxury goods sales which is affecting retailers across the sector.
Apax is said to have invested as much as £600m of its investors’ money in Matchesfashion since buying the site from its founders six years ago.
Its impending cut-price sale underlines the severe pain being felt in the industry, just three years after many luxury retailers saw sales and company valuations boom during the pandemic.
Farfetch, the New York-listed but British-based fashion platform, is this weekend scrambling to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to secure its survival.
Talks with Apollo Global Management, revealed by Sky News earlier this week, are said to have faltered, leaving its future on a knife-edge.
The takeover of…
