Surprise Austin Reed bid from Mike Ashley
MIKE Ashley, the retail billionaire behind Sports Direct has reportedly made a surprise bid for menswear retailer Austin Reed.
The company, which has a major support office in Thirsk, announced at the end of April that it was going into administration , calling in AlixPartners to handly the insolvency.
CIty AM has now reported that Mike Ashley has put a £30m bid in for Austin Reed, as well as being associated with attempts to buy the assets of another insolvent business, BHS.
It has been suggested that AlixPartners have received around 50 expressions of interest.
Dragon’s Den’s Touker Suleyman, as well as private equity firm Better Capital and Joules and Moss Bros have also been tipped as being in the running for the menswear retailer.
The administrators for Austin Reed said that insolvency proceedings had begun following cash flow difficulties experienced by the firm, which had seen continuous decline in sales over the past few years.
Austin Reed will continue to trade the group “while exploring all possible options for its future including a sale of all or parts of the business” said the administrators.
Founded in 1900 the fashion retailer, headquartered in London, has 100 standalone stores and 50 concessions throughout the UK and Ireland. The group employs a total of 1184 staff across its network.
