Latest news with #IainMcDonald
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ashley's Frasers explores bid for ailing Revolution Beauty
Mike Ashley, the high street billionaire, is exploring a cut-price takeover bid for struggling Revolution Beauty – a move that would stoke animosity between him and rival London-listed retailer Debenhams. Sky News has learnt that Frasers Group, which owns retailers ranging from House of Fraser to Evans Cycles, has approached Revolution Beauty about a potential offer for the company. Retail industry sources said this weekend that Frasers was considering whether to bid but was not certain to do so. Revolution Beauty, which sells branded cosmetics, put itself up for sale last month as it warned investors that it was evaluating options to establish "a more robust capital structure with additional capital to invest into the company". It said it had received a takeover approach from a third party - thought to be a reference to a bidder other than Frasers Group - and invited other suitors to contact its advisers at Panmure Liberum, the investment bank. To facilitate the sale process, Revolution Beauty has parachuted in Iain McDonald, an experienced City figure whose directorships include a seat on the board of Debenhams Group, as chairman. Debenhams holds a large minority stake in Revolution Beauty, while Frasers is a big shareholder in Debenhams and blocked the change of its legal name from Boohoo earlier this year by voting against the plan. Revolution Beauty has had a torrid run on the London stock market, and now has a market capitalisation of barely £20m. Its stock has collapsed by over 70% in the last 12 months alone. The company has at various points been embroiled in probes relating to its accounting and a multimillion pound settlement with its founder, Adam Minto. In January, it reached a settlement with Chrysalis Investments, its former shareholder, after it made a series of allegations against the company. Revolution, which positions itself as a mass market beauty range, is sold through thousands of outlets including Superdrug stores in the UK. It built a strong following among younger consumers by forging collaborations with media properties including the ITV dating show Love Island. Frasers' interest in acquiring Revolution Beauty would reflect its growing interest in expanding beyond pure retailing in recent years. Under chief executive Michael Murray, it has also built stakes in companies such as THG, the owner of beauty brands such as LookFantastic. Because the auction of Revolution Beauty is taking place through a formal sale process, the identity of prospective bidders does not have to be disclosed in the usual way. It was unclear on Saturday whether Frasers intends to make a statement confirming its interest to the London stock market next week. On Friday, shares in Frasers closed at 728.5p, giving it a market value of £3.3bn. Any offer for Revolution Beauty is thought to be unlikely to ascribe a significant premium to its current valuation. Spokespeople for Frasers and Revolution Beauty both declined to comment.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
Ashley's Frasers explores bid for ailing Revolution Beauty
Mike Ashley, the high street billionaire, is exploring a cut-price takeover bid for struggling Revolution Beauty – a move that would stoke animosity between him and rival London-listed retailer Debenhams. Sky News has learnt that Frasers Group, which owns retailers ranging from House of Fraser to Evans Cycles, has approached Revolution Beauty about a potential offer for the company. Retail industry sources said this weekend that Frasers was considering whether to bid but was not certain to do so. Revolution Beauty, which sells branded cosmetics, put itself up for sale last month as it warned investors that it was evaluating options to establish "a more robust capital structure with additional capital to invest into the company". It said it had received a takeover approach from a third party - thought to be a reference to a bidder other than Frasers Group - and invited other suitors to contact its advisers at Panmure Liberum, the investment bank. To facilitate the sale process, Revolution Beauty has parachuted in Iain McDonald, an experienced City figure whose directorships include a seat on the board of Debenhams Group, as chairman. Debenhams holds a large minority stake in Revolution Beauty, while Frasers is a big shareholder in Debenhams and blocked the change of its legal name from Boohoo earlier this year by voting against the plan. Revolution Beauty has had a torrid run on the London stock market, and now has a market capitalisation of barely £20m. Its stock has collapsed by over 70% in the last 12 months alone. The company has at various points been embroiled in probes relating to its accounting and a multimillion pound settlement with its founder, Adam Minto. In January, it reached a settlement with Chrysalis Investments, its former shareholder, after it made a series of allegations against the company. Revolution, which positions itself as a mass market beauty range, is sold through thousands of outlets including Superdrug stores in the UK. It built a strong following among younger consumers by forging collaborations with media properties including the ITV dating show Love Island. Frasers' interest in acquiring Revolution Beauty would reflect its growing interest in expanding beyond pure retailing in recent years. Under chief executive Michael Murray, it has also built stakes in companies such as THG, the owner of beauty brands such as LookFantastic. Because the auction of Revolution Beauty is taking place through a formal sale process, the identity of prospective bidders does not have to be disclosed in the usual way. It was unclear on Saturday whether Frasers intends to make a statement confirming its interest to the London stock market next week. On Friday, shares in Frasers closed at 728.5p, giving it a market value of £3.3bn. Any offer for Revolution Beauty is thought to be unlikely to ascribe a significant premium to its current valuation.
Fashion Network
21-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Revolution Beauty gets takeover approach, puts itself up for sale
Revolution Beauty had another twist to add to its long saga of business ups and downs on Wednesday, announcing that it has received a possible takeover offer, that it's making a big board change and that it's kicking off a formal sale process. So where do we start? Perhaps the possible offer is the best place. It said it can 'confirm that it has received a preliminary approach regarding a possible offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the company'. That came after its 13 May announcement that it was 'reviewing its funding structure and in light of this [was] exploring discussions in respect of support for an equity raise from its key shareholders'. Against this background and to 'widen its strategic options, the board has now unanimously concluded that it would also be appropriate to investigate the sale of the company and therefore has decided to commence a formal sale process'. The unnamed party that made the approach has agreed to participate in that, although there's no guarantee it will result in a sale. But in order to support that process, it announced that Iain McDonald will be appointed as non-executive chair and that current chair Alistair McGeorge is standing down from the board. McDonald 'has significant PLC experience as a non-executive director, including in takeover situations, and is considered by the board to have the right skills to oversee the immediate strategic steps of the company'. He's currently a non-executive director of Debenhams Group. As for the sale process, the board is inviting 'expressions of interest from parties regarding a potential offer' before 11 June. Of course, the announcement raises as many questions as it answers. Why has McGeorge — a Debenhams Group (formerly Boohoo Group) appointee — stepped down? Where does Debenhams Group stand as it holds a more-than-27% stake in the firm? And is the appointment on a non-exec chair who's also a non-exec at Debenhams significant? It's intriguing that McDonald is also executive chairman of Selkirk and was previously a non-executive director of e-tail giant THG. Last month THG rejected a takeover approach by Selkirk for its MyProtein business, saying it was 'wholly unsolicited, largely unfunded, highly conditional and non-binding'. We're not likely to get answers to those question for a while with Revolution simply saying on Wednesday that 'further announcements will be made as appropriate'.
Fashion Network
21-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Revolution Beauty gets takeover approach, puts itself up for sale
Revolution Beauty had another twist to add to its long saga of business ups and downs on Wednesday, announcing that it has received a possible takeover offer, that it's making a big board change and that it's kicking off a formal sale process. So where do we start? Perhaps the possible offer is the best place. It said it can 'confirm that it has received a preliminary approach regarding a possible offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the company'. That came after its 13 May announcement that it was 'reviewing its funding structure and in light of this [was] exploring discussions in respect of support for an equity raise from its key shareholders'. Against this background and to 'widen its strategic options, the board has now unanimously concluded that it would also be appropriate to investigate the sale of the company and therefore has decided to commence a formal sale process'. The unnamed party that made the approach has agreed to participate in that, although there's no guarantee it will result in a sale. But in order to support that process, it announced that Iain McDonald will be appointed as non-executive chair and that current chair Alistair McGeorge is standing down from the board. McDonald 'has significant PLC experience as a non-executive director, including in takeover situations, and is considered by the board to have the right skills to oversee the immediate strategic steps of the company'. He's currently a non-executive director of Debenhams Group. As for the sale process, the board is inviting 'expressions of interest from parties regarding a potential offer' before 11 June. Of course, the announcement raises as many questions as it answers. Why has McGeorge — a Debenhams Group (formerly Boohoo Group) appointee — stepped down? Where does Debenhams Group stand as it holds a more-than-27% stake in the firm? And is the appointment on a non-exec chair who's also a non-exec at Debenhams significant? It's intriguing that McDonald is also executive chairman of Selkirk and was previously a non-executive director of e-tail giant THG. Last month THG rejected a takeover approach by Selkirk for its MyProtein business, saying it was 'wholly unsolicited, largely unfunded, highly conditional and non-binding'. We're not likely to get answers to those question for a while with Revolution simply saying on Wednesday that 'further announcements will be made as appropriate'.
The Independent
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
THG rebuffs ‘largely unfunded' approach for Myprotein from ex-director's firm
Online retail company THG has rejected a bid for its Myprotein business worth up to £600 million from a firm led by its former director. THG, which also owns Cult Beauty, said it rebuffed a 'largely unfunded' and 'highly conditional' approach from Selkirk – a firm set up by two early backers of THG, including Iain McDonald, a previous non-executive director at the firm. The cash-and-shares proposal valued Myprotein at between £400 million and £600 million, according to THG. Shares in THG lifted more than 4% in early trading on Wednesday. The majority of the approach was funded by newly issued shares in Aim-listed Selkirk, but THG said the remainder 'would have been payable in cash from a new equity and debt issuance, which was largely unfunded and without appropriate detail on its source'. THG said: 'The board considered that the proposal fundamentally undervalued Myprotein and its prospects, and in addition carried significant execution complexity and risks, in particular the ability of Selkirk to raise sufficient funding. 'On this basis, the proposal was unequivocally rejected by the board. 'THG confirms that there has been no further engagement with Selkirk since the proposal was rejected.' Selkirk is a shell investment vehicle that floated last November, having been founded with funds from Kelso – an activist investor and major shareholder in THG. THG, which is due to post first quarter figures next Wednesday, said it had reduced debt and secured long-term banking facilities since spinning off its Ingenuity technology platform and distribution business at the start of the year. THG revealed in January that revenues across the remaining business were down 5% at £493.7 million for the three months to December 31. Its performance was dragged down by continued weakness in its nutrition business, although it highlighted 'improving' demand for the rest of the financial year. The firm demerged Ingenuity, which works closely with warehouses to manage online sales, in order to focus on its core beauty and nutrition businesses.
