(Corrects to say 98.75 ‘pence’, not ‘pounds’, in paragraph 5)
-U.S. private equity firm Sycamore Partners is weighing a takeover bid for the British fashion retailer Ted Baker, Sky News reported on Thursday.
Sycamore was considering making a formal approach, the report said https://bit.ly/3MW2uMy, adding that the equity firm has hired investment bank Numis to advise on the potential offer.
This comes after a Wall Street Journal report earlier this week said that Sycamore and Canada’s Hudson’s Bay plan to bid in high $60s a share for Kohl’s Corp. Kohl’s had previously rejected buyout offers in February.
Ted Baker and Sycamore declined Reuters requests for a comment.
Ted Baker’s shares closed up 8.88% on Thursday at 98.75 pence, giving the company a total valuation of 182.3 million pounds ($239.65 million), Reuters calculations based on Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
In February, Ted Baker said it is “cautiously optimistic” about the outlook for the current year after a 35% year-on-year jump in sales in the fourth quarter, a period when pandemic-related restrictions were still in place.
($1 = 0.7607 pounds)
(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
