Day to take Bonmarche private as stake reaches 93%

Philip Day is to take Bonmarche private after amassing 93% of the value fashion retailer's shares by the close of his offer for the business.

Day, the billionaire retail tycoon who also owns Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Jaeger, Austin Reed and Jacques Vert among others, has acquired Bonmarche using his investment vehicle Spectre.

He initially made a £5.7m or 11.4p a share offer for the struggling retailer back in April having acquired more than 50% of its shares. Management initially rejected the offer but after trading conditions worsened they did a u-turn and backed the bid last month.

After the u-turn Day closed his open-ended offer saying he would pull out of the deal had he not acquired more than the necessary 75% of shares to delist the business by close of play last Friday.

Following management's decision to sell their shares, several large institutional shareholders followed, with fund manager Cavendish slamming the management as "incompetent" in the process.

The business is now set to be delisted next month as Day has sufficient shares to be allowed a compulsory buy of the remainder.

Bonmarche has around 300 stores and concessions across the country. It initially floated on AIM in 2013 before moving to the main stock market in 2015.

Read our in-depth profile and news archive of Bonmarche in our master database of fashion, The Intelligence.