The tussle for ownership of struggling Somerset-based fashion business Mulberry descended into a war of words this week, with retail group Frasers upping its offer but the brand’s majority owner insisting it had no interest in selling up.
Frasers, which is controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, increased its cash bid for Mulberry from £83m to £111m – up from 130p a share to 150p a share – after the earlier offer was roundly rejected.
Frasers, whose brands include Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Gieves & Hawkes and Jack Wills, already owns 37.3% of Mulberry’s shares.
However, the group’s 56.4% owner Challice, a group controlled by Singaporean entrepreneur Christina Ong and her husband Ong Beng Seng, said Frasers should abandon its bid, adding it had come at an “inopportune time”.
In a statement, it said: “Challice has no interest in either selling its Mulberry shares to Frasers or providing Frasers with any irrevocable or other undertaking with regards the possible offer.”
Adding that Frasers could not acquire Mulberry without its support, the statement went on to say: “Challice hopes that by making its position clear, Frasers will be encouraged to announce that it does not intend to make an offer for Mulberry.”
It said it remained “very supportive of the company and its current management team” and believed in the long-term value of the Mulberry brand.
In response, Frasers today said it continued to believe that its revised proposal should be given “due and proper consideration”, adding that it was still to receive formal feedback from Mulberry’s board on its revised offer.
It also said that having seen Challice’s comments that it had no interest in either selling its Mulberry shares to Frasers or providing the group with any irrevocable or other undertaking with regards the possible offer, it was now seeking to engage with Challice directly.
Mulberry, which has manufacturing sites at Chilcompton, south of Bath, and in Bridgwater, continues to face some of its tough trading conditions since it was founded in 1971 by designer Roger Saul.
The group, best known for its luxury bags, recently announced it had slumped to a pre-tax loss of £34.1m in the year to 30 March against a pre-tax profit of £13.2m last time.
Group revenue fell by 4% to £152.8m as ongoing macro-economic uncertainty in the second half hit consumer spending in the luxury retail sector.
London Stock Exchange-listed Mulberry’s shares have slumped by around 70% since 2021 and in May they fell to their lowest level for 14 years after the firm warned that its well-heeled customers were continuing to cut back on spending.
The group employs around 1,400 people across the globe and has 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.
