(Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Sycamore Partners is weighing a takeover bid for the British fashion retailer Ted Baker, Sky News reported on Thursday.
Sycamore was considering making a formal approach, the report said https://bit.ly/3MW2uMy, adding that the equity firm has hired investment bank Numis to advise on the potential offer.
This comes after a Wall Street Journal report earlier this week said that Sycamore and Canada’s Hudson’s Bay plan to bid in high $60s a share for Kohl’s Corp. Kohl’s had previously rejected buyout offers in February.
Ted Baker and Sycamore declined Reuters requests for a comment.
Ted Baker’s shares closed up 8.88% on Thursday at 98.75 pounds, giving the company a total valuation of 182.3 million pounds, Reuters calculations based on Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
In February, Ted Baker said it is “cautiously optimistic” about the outlook for the current year after a 35% year-on-year jump in sales in the fourth quarter, a period when pandemic-related restrictions were still in place.
(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
