Fashion brand Nicole Farhi rescued by Hargreaves family

THE daughter of Matalan founder John Hargreaves has rescued fashion brand Nicole Farhi from administration.

Maxine Hargreaves-Adams, who is building a portfolio of fashion labels and brands, has acquired the Nicole Farhi brand, six stand-alone stores and 10 concessions in department stores including Harvey Nichols and House of Fraser, and also the wholesale business.

She was advised on the acquisition from administrator Zolfo Cooper by the Manchester office of law firm DLA Piper.

Nicole Farhi joins a portfolio which includes womenswear brand, Fenn Wright Manson, which Mrs Hargreaves-Adams bought last year and A Damsel in a Dress in which she invested.

She is the eldest of John Hargreaves’ three children. Her younger brother Jason has just taken over at the helm of Sklemersdale-based clothing and homewares chain Matalan.

The deal was led by restructuring partners, Rob Russell and Martin Keates who were supported by the employment, commercial and property teams at DLA Piper.  

Rob Russell, restructuring partner at DLA Piper stated: “Nicole Farhi is an iconic British fashion brand which has underperformed in recent years.  Twinning its loyal customer base with our client’s retail expertise bodes well for the future of the business”

“This project is our most recent in a series of high profile retail restructuring mandates.  As the largest restructuring practice in the UK, we have demonstrated once again our capacity to exceed client expectations and complete the most complex of deals in the shortest of timescales.”

The DLA Piper team last week acted for the administrators of budget fashion chain Internacionale.