Asos eyes Cult Beauty and Feelunique as takeover targets

The online fashion giant is among a number of potential bidders for the two beauty specialists, Sky News reported. Asos would only be likely to proceed with a bid for one of the two businesses, however, and ultimately may not make an offer at all.

Beauty is an increasingly important category for Asos. In its first half, Asos reported that sales of face and body products had increased by 114%.

Online retailers have generally performed well during the Covid pandemic, and Cult and Feelunique have drafted in advisers to run sale processes to capitalise on the trend.

Each would be likely to be valued “in the low hundreds of millions of pounds”, according to banking sources quoted by Sky.

Asos has been on the acquisition trail during the pandemic and it has already snapped up Arcadia’s flagship Topshop brand following the collapse of Sir Philip Green’s fashion empire. In April Asos launched a £500m convertible bond issue to invest in growth.

It is thought that other online giants including THG and Zalando are also likely to cast their slide-rules over Cult Beauty and Feelunique.