Fashion Investments and M&A

Date: February 2024
Buyer: Carlyle, IMI
Target: Very
Business: Online Fashion Retailer
Value: £125m
Details: Liverpool-based company Very, owned by Barclays and known for its collaborations with celebrities like Michelle Keegan and Holly Willougby, has received a £125m investment from US investment firm Carlyle and UAE investment house IMI (International Media Investments). £85m of this, provided by Carlyle’s Global Credit arm, will be made available immediately, with the remaining £40m coming from IMI. Very has granted a floating charge over several of its group companies as security for the investment by IMI (with the same companies having been pledged as security for previous debt investments made by Carlyle). As part of the investment package, Carlyle and IMI will each be able to appoint a director to Very’s board of directors, and will bring their ‘deep network of relationships, industry expertise and capabilities’ to Very, while Very’s current non-executive chairman Dirk Van den Berghe will step down and be replaced by Aidan Barclay, as interim chairman until a new appointment is made.

Date: January 2024
Buyer: Authentic Brands Group
Target: Sperry
Business: Footwear
Value: £130 million
Details: Authentic Brands Group has acquired American footwear brand, Sperry, from Wolverine World Wide (WWW) for a rumoured $130million. Sperry, a heritage brand operating for 90 years, specialises in boat shoes and loafers, and was previously sold to WWW in 2012 as part of a package including Keds, Saucony and Stride Rite, for c.$1.23billion. As part of this acquisition, Aldo Group has entered into a licence with Authentic Brands Group to become Sperry’s North American partner for operations and global footwear design, production and distribution. The sale will allow WWW to focus on and invest more into its ‘core’ brands, which include Sweaty Betty and Keds.

Date: January 2024
Buyer: Harry Styles
Target: S.S Daley
Business: Luxury Menswear
Value: Undisclosed
Details: Pop superstar Harry Styles has become a minority shareholder in the label S.S. Daley, following an investment of an undisclosed amount in January 2024. London-based Steven Stokey-Daley (the designer behind the label) won both the British Fashion Council Foundation Award for Best Emerging Designer, and the LVMH Prize for Young Designers, at the 2022 Fashion Awards, scooping a cool £400,000 prize money cash injection in the process, which he used to scale the business and move to a new design studio. Steven Stokey-Daley is known to be Harry’s go-to designer for music videos and photoshoots, after being introduced to the star by Harry’s stylist in 2020 and providing the ‘Floral Sebastian Trouser’ worn by Harry in his ‘Golden’ music video. The investment will help S.S. Daley to “grow its direct-to-consumer business” while it focuses on “brand longevity and scaling the business into a modern, British heritage house”.

Date: January 2024
Buyer: Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance
Target: Ann Summers
Business: Lingerie retailer
Value: £8m
Details: Lingerie retailer Ann Summers has received a £8m asset-based lending facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance (STB), to finance its plans to grow its omnichannel marketing, selling and customer service offering. The facility comes as Ann Summers sets its sights on further growth and sales over the next few years, amid a 7% increase in its sales (to just under £100m) in its financial year to June 2022.

Date: January 2024
Buyer: Steven Bartlett
Target: Luxe Collective
Business: Luxury Fashion Re-sale
Value: £100k
Details: Steven Bartlett, of BBC’s Dragons’ Den, has invested £100,000 in Luxe Collective, a British luxury fashion resale platform, founded in Liverpool by brothers Ben and Joe Gallagher back in 2018. Similar to the likes of Vestiare Collective and Tradesy, Luxe Collective offers a platform for private sellers to sell pre-loved luxury items to buyers, once the items have been authenticated. Luxe Collective, which has amassed 2.2 million social media followers, is part of a growing trend which emphasises shopping pre-loved items as a means of combatting the ‘fast fashion’ model, and aiming for a more environmentally-friendly textile industry.