Frasers Group emerges as frontrunner for Harvey Nichols takeover – report

UK-listed Frasers Group has emerged arsenic the starring contender to get section store concatenation Harvey Nichols, Sky News reported.

The takeover is expected to impact Harvey Nichols concisely entering administration, with FTI Consulting lined up to enactment arsenic insolvency practitioner nether a pre-pack medication arrangement.

Next, which has been vying with Frasers for power of Harvey Nichols implicit caller weeks, retains the enactment of raising its offer, though sources indicated this was seen arsenic improbable with a last determination present adjacent astatine hand.

If the acquisition proceeds, it would extremity 35 years of ownership nether Hong Kong billionaire Dickson Poon, who bought the retailer successful 1991.

Harvey Nichols dates backmost to 1831, was listed connected the London Stock Exchange successful 1996, and subsequently returned to backstage ownership.

Poon had appointed FTI Consulting respective weeks earlier to oversee a merchantability of the business.

Harvey Nichols aboriginal informed its marque suppliers that it had been "obliged to let Frasers Group to enactment successful the process alongside the different funny parties", a motion to the rules governing pre-pack sales.

Frasers had primitively been unopen retired of the bidding process.

Interest successful the retailer had besides travel from assorted planetary suitors and turnaround specialists focused connected retail, though the tract has since narrowed to Frasers and Next arsenic the lone remaining bidders.

Prospective buyers person been told they would request to perpetrate backing of arsenic overmuch arsenic £60m ($80.9m) towards the retailer's continued transformation, though immoderate figures successful the retail assemblage judge a larger sum whitethorn beryllium required to support the concern intact successful its contiguous form.

Harvey Nichols presently has astir 1,200 employees, with outlets successful London, Edinburgh and Leeds, UK; arsenic good arsenic overseas branches successful Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Riyadh.

Several suppliers person voiced unease astatine the imaginable of Frasers taking over, pointing to their past dealings with the radical during its short-lived ownership of online manner retailer Matchesfashion.

"Frasers Group emerges arsenic frontrunner for Harvey Nichols takeover – report" was primitively created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand.