Bids of up to £200m sought for Topshop, Green said to favour Boohoo

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 11, 2020

The Arcadia administrators have reportedly put a price of around £200 million on its star chain Topshop, with attempts to get a deal signed pre-Christmas. That could mean initial bids being filed within the next week.

Boohoo is still being suggested as the most likely buyer of the Topshop brand, even though that would most likely result in the closure of most or all of its stores.

The Guardian reported that Philip Green is believed to favour Boohoo and while his company is in administration, his opinion still carries weight as his family is a major Arcadia creditor due to a £50 million secured loan it made to the business.

That said, the administrators are legally bound to get the best value they can both for Topshop and Arcadia’s other labels and that could help other potential bidders currently looking at the basket of brands. These reportedly include Next, M&S, Frasers and private equity group Alteri. There have even been suggestions that Tesco could be mulling a move given that it currently hosts 30 Dorothy Perkins concessions in its stores.

There seems to be plenty of interest in the group’s brands, although no details have been released about which ones are proving to be most in demand. Topshop is seen as its most valuable property and while that £200 million is around half of what Brand Finance valued it at nearly a year ago, it would be seen as a good result if it achieves that price.