Another online retailer has bought a collection of brands from the collapsed Arcadia empire, but chosen to leave the bricks and mortar behind.
Boohoo has bought Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton from administrators at Deloitte for £25.2m. The acquisitions includes the e-commerce and digital assets and associated intellectual property rights, including customer data, related business information and inventory of the brands, but not the stores.
The deal comes a week after Asos bought the brands, intellectual property and inventory of the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands from Deloitte for £295m.
Boohoo chief executive John Lyttle said: “Acquiring these well-known brands in British fashion out of administration ensures their heritage is sustained, while our investment aims to transform them into brands that are fit for the current market environment. We have a successful track record of integrating British heritage fashion brands onto our proven multi-brand platform, and we are looking forward to bringing these brands on board.”
The deal is being financed through Boohoo’s existing cash resources, which stood at £386.9m on 31 December 2020 prior to its £55m acquisition of Debenhams for £55. It is scheduled to complete on 9 February. Boohoo said the acquisition would contribute “modest revenues” over the final few weeks of its current financial year but would lead to one-off transaction and restructuring costs of as much as £15m.
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