New Look has sold its loss-making French business Mim to Main Asia, a firm advised by Hong Kong-based consumer products giant Asia Global.
It is the second major retail acquisition by Chinese companies in the past week. Sanpower-owned Nanjing Cenbest formally completed its £480m acquisition of House of Fraser this week.
The Mim sale is expected to compete in 2014. New Look would not disclose the transaction value but said it expects to recover at least the value of the net assets of Mim.
New Look chief executive Anders Kristiansen said: “The board is delighted to confirm the sale of Mim in such a timely manner following the strategic decision taken earlier this year to divest this business. Our focus is now squarely on the core New Look brand, expanding its presence in the UK, internationally and online.”
New Look said earlier this year that it was forced to take a £64.2m writedown of Mim’s net assets. This led to New Look posting a £55m statutory pre-tax loss in the year to March 29 against a £3.1m pre-tax profit the prior year.
The retailer acquired Mim, which has 350 stores in France, in 2004.
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