Frasers Group is reported to be eyeing a potential bid for global luxury fashion platform Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP).
The British retail group has approached investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, which has been running the sale process for YNAP owner Richemont, according to Retail Week.
A non-disclosure agreement is being drafted to allow Frasers to run the rule over the business, the report says. Luxury group Richemont, which counts Chloé, Cartier and Alaia among its brands, is said to be keen to offload the business at a bargain basement price.
YNAP had been due to be wrapped into the Farfetch group, which planned to transfer it to its technology platform, but that deal fell through when Farfetch ran into financial distress at the end of last year and was saved in a last minute deal by South Korean retail giant Coupang.
The acquisition of YNAP would bolster Frasers’ luxury business, which is centred on super-boutique chain Flannels, and give it access to many brands it currently does not have on the Flannels platform.
However, which industry watchers are not surprised to see Frasers circling, given its acquisitive nature, the business did purchase YNAP rival Matches at the end of last year (for around £56 million) and held on to it only for a matter of weeks before putting it into administration.
Matches administrators Teneo carried out a sale process but no buyer was found. Frasers ended up buying back the IP and brand, but left Teneo to operate the Matches website and stores under license until as much stock as possible were cleared. The Matches website ceased trading for UK customers at the end of June.
The Yoox Net-A-Porter Group comprises womenswear site Net-A-Porter, menswear site Mr Porter and off-price sites The Outlet and Yoox. Net-A-Porter was a trailblazer in online luxury, having been founded in London in 2000 by entrepreneur Dame Natalie Massenet.
In 2015 Richemont signed a deal to merge The Net-A-Porter Group with Italian off-price platform Yoox to create YNAP. Massenet left the business shortly after and Yoox founder Federico Marchetti became CEO. Marchetti left the business in 2021.
Frasers is one of the most acquisitive groups on the high street and has recently been hoovering up multi-brand fashion retailers to bolster the Flannels business. Among its most recent acquisitions are Sunderland’s Aphrodite, acquired in April, along with Zee & Co, a small chain of boutiques in London and Essex, and menswear retailer John Anthony.
It recently signed a partnership with retail group THG which saw it take control of the Coggles multi brand online platform. In 2023 it acquired a raft of fashion brands from rival JD Sports including Tessuti, Cricket, Giulio and Scotts.
Frasers has also been amassing shares in Hugo Boss and Mulberry, as well as fast fashion platforms ASOS and Boohoo.
