Topshop

Could Topshop be about to open stores again? An unlikely rebirth of a former global fashion powerhouse might just be realised after a major deal with online fashion owner Asos, which has sold a majority stake in?the business?for €160 million to a Danish retail group.

Heartland, an arm of Bestseller, the Danish fashion business controlled by the major?Asos?shareholder Anders Povlsen - who already owns popular European brands including Jack & Jones and Vero Moda via his Bestseller business – has completed the acquisition which will help Asos repay debts.

Topshop was one of the powerhouses of the global fashion world in the late 1990s and early 2000s and was the flagship of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia empire, with stores worldwide including on Fifth Avenue, New York. But it fell into administration in late 2020 as part of the collapse of Green’s retail group and was?relaunched selling fashion online the following year by Asos.

Asos CEO José Antonio Ramos Calamonte said at the announcement of the deal that it could herald the return of the Topshop brand to physical stores. The company will continue to sell Topshop and Topman items on its website but will now pay a royalty fee in a deal that values Topshop at €214 million.

Asos will hold on to a 22.5% stake and its existing Topshop partner Seattle-based Nordstrom just over 2%, with Heartland controlling the rest,

While Heartland said that it will relaunch Topshop.com as part of the venture, it said that it has no plans to open physical stores at the moment. However, Calamonte said that Topshop could indeed return to the high street with its own stores, as part of the deal with Bestseller, as well as putting apparel into more department stores, as it currently does with Nordstrom.

“We might open stores. We will consider it for sure but we have no specific agreement to open a certain number,” Calamonte said as he insisted that Asos had put the Topshop brand “back in shape for growth”, having revamped its supply chain, product quality and creative direction.

Separately, the family of minority partner Nordstrom has offered $3.8 billion to take Nordstrom private, bringing the department store group back into the family’s hands.

To help finance the deal, CEO Erik Nordstrom and his brother, President Pete Nordstrom, have teamed up with other members of the family plus Mexico-based retail conglomerate El Puerto de Liverpool.

In a statement the company said: “The special committee of the board of directors of?Nordstrom, Inc.?have confirmed receipt of a proposal from Erik and?Pete Nordstrom, other members of the?Nordstrom?family, and?El Puerto de Liverpool to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the company, other than shares held by members of the?Nordstrom?family and Liverpool, for?$23.00?per share in cash.”

The proposal states that the merger consideration would be financed through a combination of rollover equity and cash commitments by members of the?Nordstrom?family and Liverpool and?$250 million?in new bank financing, with the existing debt held by the company to remain outstanding.