Asos buys Arcadia’s Topshop and Miss Selfridge in £330m deal, leaving thousands jobless
Arcadia’s Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands have been sold to online retailer Asos in a £330m deal.
Arcadia’s administrator Deloitte this morning confirmed Asos would buy the brands for £295m, and would also take on certain liabilities for forward committed stock orders.
Asos paid around £265m for the brands, some £30m for the stock in hand, and has stumped up some £35m for stock orders still to come.
Asos CEO Nick Beighton said: “We are extremely proud to be the new owners of the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands. The acquisition of these iconic British brands is a hugely exciting moment for Asos and our customers and will help accelerate our multi-brand platform strategy.
“We have been central to driving their recent growth online and, under our ownership, we will develop them further, using our design, marketing, technology and logistics expertise, and working closely with key strategic retail partners in the UK and around the world.”
2,500 jobs to be lost
The deal excludes approximately 70 physical high street stores, and will see only 300 Arcadia employees transferred to Asos, meaning many will lose their jobs.
Some 2,500 employees face redundancy as a result of the transaction. They will not be made redundant today, but because stores are closing they are very likely to lose their jobs in the near future.
Arcadia went into administration in November, putting more than 13,000 jobs at risk and becoming Britain’s biggest corporate casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the terms of the transaction, ASOS will acquire the brands, intellectual property and inventory.
Completion of the transaction is expected on 4 February 2021.
This morning Deloitte confirmed other Arcadia brands Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis were in exclusive discussions with a potential buyer.