Luxury fashion retailer Mytheresa is reportedly among the potential bidders looking to snap up Yoox Net-a-Porter from Swiss luxury group Richemont.
Sources with knowledge of the sale process, which is being led by Goldman Sachs, said private equity firms Bain Capital and Permira are also circling the business.
The sources added that the potential bidders have “expressed reservations” regarding a deal for the fashion retailer due to its ongoing losses.
One of the potential bidders said: “We are willing to look but it’s uncertain whether this makes sense [to buy]”, while another called the situation a “turnaround-type case”.
Despite declining to comment on the possible bid, a spokesperson for Mytheresa said: “Mytheresa is constantly evaluating opportunities to grow our business, which may include M&A activities from time to time.”
The news comes after Yoox Net-a-Porter parent Richemont began looking for a new buyer for the business last year after a deal to sell a 47.5% share to rival Farfetch collapsed as a result of the latter’s financial problems.
Richemont investors have been calling for the retailer to offload Yoox Net-a-Porter “for years” after the luxury brand made a loss of €128m (£109.8m) during the first half of the financial year.
Richemont, Permira, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Richemont, which also owns Cartier and Chloé, first acquired Net-a-Porter in 2010 before merging the business with Yoox five years later.
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