The well-established high street brand has partnered with US hedge fund Davidson Kempner to rescue the group.
Sir Philip Green’s retail giant, Arcadia Group, which owned a number of internationally-recognised brands such as Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop and Wallis, fell into administration in December. Since then, there have been a number of interested parties set to bid for the group including Mike Ashley’s Fraser Group and Authentic Brands Group. It now appears that Next are the current frontrunners for the group, with final bids to be received today.
Offers are expected to be well over £200M and Deloitte are hoping to close the sale of Arcadia by the end of January. Should Next and Davidson Kempner be successful in the purchase, they will appoint external manager with Next holding a minority stake.
As of now, Evans remains the only one of Arcadia’s brand to be sold. Australian company, City Chic Collective purchased Evans for £23M last month.
