Berwin buys stake in Moss Bros
HISTORIC Yorkshire menswear manufacturer Berwin & Berwin has bought a stake in its biggest customer, retail chain Moss Bros Group.
The move sees a trust represented by Simon Berwin, managing director of Leeds-based Berwin & Berwin, acquiring a 4.28% holding in well known suit retailer and formal hire business Moss Bros from founding family shareholders the Gee family.
Berwin & Berwin – which was founded in 1885 by Mr Berwin’s great grandfather Barnett Berwin, a Russian tailor – is the biggest supplier of suits to high street chain Next and the second largest supplier to Austin Reed. It supplies Ted Baker and makes suits under the Berwin & Berwin, Daniel Hechter, Pierre Cardin, Chester by Chester Barrie and Ben Sherman labels and last year launched a new menswear range with Paul Costelloe.
Mr Berwin said that the share purchase was a strategic investment which would see his firm working “at arm’s length” with the retailer to develop a “sound, long-term strategy” for the company.
“We need to have a little bit of control over our own destiny. This is partly a defensive mechanism.” Mr Berwin said he was currently in discussions over joining the Moss Bros board.
He described his role as “like Henry Kissinger” to the troubled firm.
He also hasn’t ruled out acquiring more shares in the retail chain, where Icelandic investment group Baugur owns a 28.5% stake.
Mr Berwin said his trust was backed by an unnamed investor.
It is believed that the Gee family had talked to Baugur but decided to sell their shares to Mr Berwin.
Moss Bros was founded in 1851 in London’s Covent Garden and now has 150 stores across the UK.
“They are the third-biggest suit company in the UK and we are one of the largest suppliers. We will see, while working at arm’s length, what we can bring them,” said Mr Berwin.
Rowland Gee said: “My brother Nigel and I, following recent events, were presented with an opportunity to sell the majority of our remaining holdings in Moss Bros to a party who can both influence and add value to this sound business.
“Moss Bros Group contains many great attributes, not least a loyal and highly experienced workforce.”
Berwin & Berwin manufactures 18,000 suits a week from a factory in the Shandong province in north-eastern China.
It signed a joint venture with Chinese conglomerate Nanshan to create the 15,000-square metre factory after moving its suit production from eastern Europe to China.
Berwin & Berwin, along with Montague Burton, was one of the firms whose success once made Leeds the suit capital of the world.
