{"id":167144,"date":"2020-08-14T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/instead-of-chasing-victorias-secret-should-ms-have-taken-a-long-tall-bet\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T12:06:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T12:06:52","slug":"instead-of-chasing-victorias-secret-should-ms-have-taken-a-long-tall-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/instead-of-chasing-victorias-secret-should-ms-have-taken-a-long-tall-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"Instead of chasing Victoria's Secret should M&S have taken a Long Tall bet?"},"content":{"rendered":"
From disaster springs opportunity and for those retailers, with a war chest and plenty of dosh on the balance sheet, there is a chance to pick and choose from brands and retailers falling into COVID administration<\/strong> like dominoes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During the height of lockdown, Boohoo moved quickly to raise \u00a3198 million for new M&A opportunities<\/strong>, in a private placing leaving the company with around \u00a3500 million in cash.<\/p>\n Boohoo had already paid \u00a318.2 million for Karen Millen and Coast\u2019s e-commerce businesses back in August 2019. This followed\u00a0Boohoo purchasing a controlling stake in PrettyLittleThing for \u00a33.3 million in 2017 (it bought the remaining shares earlier this year), Nasty Gal in 2018 for \u00a316 million and MissPap, bought for an undisclosed sum in 2019.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always important for larger, mono-brand businesses to diversify,<\/strong> even more so when the parent brand has been tainted by allegations questionable supply chains and standards as Boohoo. has.<\/p>\n In June, this year, Boohoo also acquired the online businesses and all associated intellectual property of Oasis and Warehouse<\/strong> for a knockdown \u00a35.25 million from Hilco Capital. This followed the Oasis and Warehouse Group shutting down all stores and concessions at the end of April, after administrators failed to find a buyer.<\/p>\n Sky News<\/em> reported in June that Marks & Spencer and Next were competing to take control of the UK arm of the lingerie brand Victoria\u2019s Secret.<\/strong> The US underwear brand put its British division, which has 25 stores and employs more than 800 people, into administration earlier in June 2020. The UK division had slumped to a pre-tax loss of \u00a3171m.<\/p>\n