Topshop administrators seek up to £200m for flagship Arcadia brand

Initial offers are anticipated to be filed by the end of next week, The Guardian reported. 

Online fashion star Boohoo is thought to be the most likely buyer of Topshop. The newspaper said Boohoo has the support of Green, whose family is one of Arcadia’s big creditors through a £50m secured loan.

Despite observers’ belief that Boohoo is the frontrunner for Topshop, other retailers and investors are thought to be casting their slide rules over the business.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, Marks & Spencer and Next are all thought likely to be interested, as well as private investment specialists such as Alteri.

Grocery giant Tesco, which is home to 30 concessions of Topshop stablemate Dorothy Perkins, might also be interested in some Arcadia brands.

There have been a significant number of expressions of interest in Arcadia’s various brands, it is understood. 

Several sources told The Guardian that administrators hope for as much as £200m for Topshop but one said: “It doesn’t mean they will get that.”

Arcadia crashed into administration at the end of last month. Immediately after the administrators of department store group Debenhams, where Arcadia was the biggest concession operator, revealed that the business would be wound down.

The collapses of Arcadia and Debenhams put 25,000 retail jobs at risk.