Retail tycoon Micky Jagtiani has ruled out making a bid for Debenhams despite upping his stake in the department store group to more than 9 per cent.

The Landmark boss this week made his third purchase of Debenhams shares since December via investment vehicle Milestone Resources.

Landmark chief legal officer Anuraag Malhotra told Retail Week the investment is opportunistic at a time when Debenhams' shares have languished close to an all-time low of 62p a share.

Malhotra said: "Landmark believed the price was attractive enough to make an investment. There is no strategic intent regarding Debenhams." The Dubai-based retailer would not be teaming up with another company to acquire Debenhams either, he added.

Landmark had been linked to a potential takeover of Debenhams alongside Icelandic investor Baugur, which has a 13 per cent stake in the British retailer.

Jagtiani has also put on ice plans to acquire US department store Saks, also in partnership with Baugur. Malhotra said: "We have been having talks with Baugur [to acquire Saks] and talks are on hold for the time being. The state of the market is very volatile. We need to see how the economy shapes up."

He said Landmark would find it "difficult" to launch a bid for Saks on its own and that the company was only interested in partnering with Baugur.

Malhotra added that Landmark would consider a bid for New Look if the fast fashion retailer went back on the market.

Jagtiani commands a 600-strong retail empire in 10 countries, with ambitions to double retail space to 12.5 million sq ft between 2006 and 2009.

Topics