Online fashion retailer Boohoo announced Monday that it has acquired Debenhams’ online business and associated intellectual property from its joint administrators for £55 million (plus VAT) in cash.
Online fashion retailer said the transaction does not include Debenhams’ retail stores, stock or any financial services.
Debenhams has an established online platform with approximately 300 million UK website visits per annum. This makes it a top 10 retail website in the UK by traffic.
Boohoo said that the group intends to rebuild and relaunch the Debenhams platform, helping further the group’s stated ambition to lead the fashion eCommerce market, and grow into new categories including beauty, sport and homeware.
“The acquisition of the Debenhams brand is an important development for the group, as we seek to capture incremental growth opportunities arising from the accelerating shift to online retail. We have developed a successful multi-brand direct-to-consumer platform that continues to disrupt the markets that we operate in. The acquisition represents an exciting strategic opportunity to transform our target addressable market through the creation of an online marketplace that leverages Debenhams’ high brand awareness and traffic through the development of beauty and fashion partnerships connecting brands with consumers,” said John Lyttle, CEO.
“This is a transformational deal for the group, which allows us to capture the fantastic opportunity as eCommerce continues to grow. Our ambition is to create the UK’s largest marketplace. Our acquisition of the Debenhams brand is strategically significant as it represents a huge step which accelerates our ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion eCommerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport,” said Mahmud Kamani, Executive Chairman.
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