British retailer Frasers Group Plc has continued to expand its portfolio. On Wednesday, the parent company of the Sports Direct chain announced that it had acquired “certain intellectual property rights” from the insolvent companies Missguided Limited, Mennace Limited and Missguided (IP) Limited. The company put the purchase price at 20 million pounds sterling, the equivalent of almost 24 million euros.
The Frasers Group announced that Missguided’s activities would now continue for a transitional period of around eight weeks under the direction of the liquidators appointed a few days ago. The new addition is then to be integrated into the group as an independent business unit.
Missguided previously failed with several attempts at rehabilitation
“We are pleased to secure the long-term future of Missguided,” said Michael Murray, CEO of Frasers Group, in a statement. In the future, the label will benefit from the “strength and size” as well as the operational qualities of the new owner. With its “digitally oriented approach to the current trends in women’s fashion”, the e-commerce specialist will also bring “additional knowledge” to the group as a whole.
Missguided was recently in trouble because of delivery problems, higher costs and falling demand. Last December, the investor Alteri took a stake in the controversial fast fashion provider in order to push ahead with the restructuring. However, this did not solve the problems: Founder and CEO Nitin Passi resigned in April, and the company began looking for additional investors, but was unsuccessful. Missguided finally had to file for bankruptcy this week after some suppliers issued reminders to pay outstanding debts.