Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has launched an audacious £83 million takeover bid for Mulberry, one of Britain’s best-known luxury brands, after being blindsided by a £10 million rights offer.
The Sports Direct owner has offered 130p per share, a premium of 11 per cent to the closing price on Friday, believing it is “the best steward” to return the struggling leather goods maker to profitability.
Frasers, which also owns Flannels and House of Fraser, said it refused to “accept another Debenhams situation where a perfectly viable business is run into administration”. The statement referred to the collapse of the department store chain in 2019, wiping out Frasers’ stake, worth £300 million at one stage.
The takeover attempt will pit Frasers, which has a 37 per