M&S expected to conclude acquisition of Jaeger this month
High street giant Marks & Spencer has reportedly bought the Jaeger fashion brand out of administration.
The deal is expected to be completed later this month, reports Sky News.
No figures have been released, but the PA news agency claims the purchase price is believed to be around £5m.
Jaeger, part of the Carlisle-based Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, went into administration last November.
Sky quoted Richard Price, head of M&S’s clothing and home division, as saying: “We have set out our plans to sell complementary third-party brands as part of our Never The Same Again programme to accelerate our transformation and turbocharge online growth.
“In line with this, we have bought the Jaeger brand and are in the final stages of agreeing the purchase of product and supporting marketing assets from the administrators of Jaeger Retail Limited. We expect to fully complete later this month.”
It is understood that the deal does not include any of the 76 Jaeger outlets or concessions, employing 347 staff.
In a Christmas trading update last week, M&S chief executive Steve Rowe explained the move to new brands, such as Jaeger, saying: “M&S wants to build a curated set of brands and merchandise largely for our online business but also through filling some of that excess space we have in stores.
“We’ve got no intention of turning M&S into a department store at all.
“This is about finding and partnering with adjacent brands. Adjacent in terms of style, adjacent in terms of customer base that enhance the M&S offer and make it the place to go to for an online shop.”
Jaeger was part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill group owned by Philip Day, the Stockport-born tycoon who was forced to appoint administrators last November.
