Retail giant pays £20m for Missguided assets

Nitin Passi, founder, Missguided

Retail group Frasers has paid £20m for online fashion retailer Missguided, which fell into administration earlier this week.

Frasers is the group which grew out of the Sports Direct business that, backed by Mike Ashley, has made a niche out of buying popular brands from failed companies.

Its previous acquisitions include House of Fraser, Jack Wills, Evans Cycles, and Studio.

Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers Group, said: “We are delighted to secure a long-term future for Missguided, which will benefit from the strength and scale of Fraser Group’s platform and our operational excellence.

“Missguided’s digital-first approach to the latest trends in women’s fashion will bring additional expertise to the wider Frasers Group.”

Frasers has bought “certain intellectual property” of Missguided.

The business is expected to be operated by the administrator under a transitional agreement for most of June and July, then it will operate as a standalone business within Frasers.

Missguided had been struggling for a while, and was rescued before Christmas when Alteri Investors took a 50% stake.

Founder Nitin Passi stepped down as chief executive in April as the Manchester-headquartered company’s problems mounted.

But rising costs, supply chain issues, and the impact of the cost of living crisis on demand created unsustainable cashflow problems.

This resulted in suppliers going unpaid with one, JSK Fashions, issuing a winding up petition earlier this month.

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