Directors at Somerset-based fashion brand Mulberry have rejected retail group Frasers’ increased offer to take over the struggling business, calling it “untenable”.
Instead, the board at Mulberry – best known for its luxury bags – said the company should focus its attention on “driving the commercial performance of the business”, as it looks to bounce back from a tough few years.
Frasers, which is controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley and whose brands include Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Gieves & Hawkes and Jack Wills, last week increased its cash bid for Mulberry from £83m to £111m – up from 130p a share to 150p a share – after an earlier offer was roundly rejected.
However, the higher bid from Frasers, which already owns 37.3% of Mulberry’s shares, was dismissed by the group’s 56.4% owner Challice, a group controlled by Singaporean entrepreneur Christina Ong and her husband Ong Beng Seng, saying it had come at an “inopportune time”.
In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, Mulberry – which has manufacturing sites at Chilcompton, south of Bath, and in Bridgwater – said after careful consideration with its advisers, its board had come unanimously to the same decision.
It added: “The board reiterates the following statement made at the time of the announcement of the company’s audited results on 27 September 2024.”
That statement said: “We believe that the combination of the appointment of a new CEO, our new debt facility and the capital raising announced today will put the group on a firm footing to ensure we are well set up for future growth.”
Andrea Baldo, the former boss of Danish womenswear label Ganni, took over as Mulberry’s CEO last month following the departure in July of Thierry Andretta, who had been in the role for nine years ago.
Since 2021 Mulberry’s shares have slumped by around 70% and in May fell to their lowest level for 14 years after the firm warned that its well-heeled customers were continuing to cut back on spending.
In its statement, Mulberry said the board acknowledged that Frasers, through its participation in the company’s recent fundraising, “had shown itself to be supportive of maintaining the value of the Mulberry brand”.
It added: “The board appreciates this and looks forward to further interactions with Frasers in the future.”
Mulberry was founded in 1971 by designer Roger Saul, who made leather belts and chokers on the family kitchen table.
Today it employs around 1,400 people across the globe, with offices in London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul as well as its headquarters at Chilcompton.
Its two Somerset factories, which between them produce more than half its total output, have benefitted from new investment over recent years.
