Mytheresa among potential bidders for Net-a-Porter
Luxury e-tailer Mytheresa is reportedly among potential bidders to purchase lossmaking Yoox Net-a-Porter from luxury giant Richemont.
In a world where Mytheresa is seemingly flying sky high above its rivals – just look to the collapse of Matches and Farfetch – it leaves industry sources perplexed as to why they’d take on lossmaking Net-a-Porter.
However, private equity firms Bain Capital and Permira are also among the list of reported bidders in talks with Goldman Sachs, which is running the sale process.
All parties bidders have expressed reservations about agreeing a deal due to dipping sales at Yoox Net-a-Porter, sources told the Financial Times. One said, "It’s very much a turnaround-type case".
In a statement, Mytheresa said: "[We are] constantly evaluating opportunities to grow our business, which may include M&A activities from time to time."
Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group, became the majority shareholder of Yoox Net-a-Porter in 2018, and later in 2020, YNAP became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Richemont.
In 2022, Richemont sought to give up control of the online fashion retailer by selling a 47.5% stake in Yoox Net-a-Porter to London rival Farfetch. However, in December 2023, Farfetch narrowly escaped bankruptcy, thanks to South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang swooping in to save the day with a $500 million cash injection. However, Farfetch’s financial downward spiral ultimately led to the YNAP deal’s collapse.
The Swiss luxury giant has been trying to offload problematic YNAP for years. In 2023, there was a reported £3 billion (€3.6 billion) loss from discontinued operations primarily resulting from the £2.9 billion (€3.4 billion) non-cash write-down of YNAP net assets.
