[Business] Jaeger Owner Explores Sale After Bid Approach

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Jaeger Owner Explores Sale After Bid Approach
from SBNation.com

The owner of the struggling British fashion label Jaeger is exploring a sale of the company just weeks before the high street's crucial Christmas trading period gets under way.

Better Capital, the investment firm which owns Jaeger, has decided to pursue takeover discussions with interested parties, and has asked advisers at AlixPartners to oversee the talks.

A person close to Better, which was founded by the private equity tycoon Jon Moulton, said that a formal auction was not planned but that it was responding to incoming interest from unnamed buyers.

Analysts expressed doubt that there was much value residing in the business given its current challenges.

The news comes just weeks after Better confirmed that Colin Henry, Jaeger's chief executive, had left the company, leaving it facing the most important sales period of the year without a permanent boss.

The decision to explore a sale of Jaeger also follows Better's decision last week to sell another of its troubled investments, the luxury yacht-maker Fairline.

Last Christmas Eve, City Link, the courier company then owned by Better Capital, collapsed into administration, prompting recriminations over its management and sparking calls from MPs as well as Mr Moulton for an overhaul of the UK's insolvency regime.

Mr Moulton engineered the takeover of Jaeger in 2012, acquiring much of its debt and the company's shares as it languished in administration, a move which dismayed its former owner, the retailer Harold Tilman.

Established in 1884, Jaeger is positioned as a premium British fashion brand, known for its contemporary menswear, womenswear and accessories.