Frasers Ups Burberry Stake to 6.32%, Unveils Luxury Division Ahead of Event During Paris Fashion Week
LONDON — Frasers Group is doubling down on luxury, increasing its stake in Burberry and setting up a special division for the high-end companies in its portfolio.
On Monday, the group disclosed in a stock market filing that it has raised its stake in Burberry to 6.32 percent from 4.16 percent. Frasers has also included Burberry in the list of brands that sit within its new luxury "ecosystem," known as Frasers Group Luxury.
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It described Frasers Group Luxury as a portfolio of "distinctive luxury businesses, digital capabilities, and investments with longstanding strategic brand partners at its core." The group touted its decade-plus of experience in the luxury sector, and "trusted" relationships with strategic brand partners.
The new division, it said, "combines the expertise and reach of Frasers Group with the commercial discipline that underpins the wider business." The division includes retailers Flannels and Harvey Nichols in the U.K. and The Webster in the U.S. Frasers also listed its strategic investments in Mulberry, Burberry, Hugo Boss and Hulcan's Mile as part of the new division.
Frasers Group Luxury, the company added, "is designed to support brand partners at every stage of their growth, unlocking opportunities, reaching new audiences, entering new markets and creating lasting long-term value."
Michael Murray, Frasers Group CEO, said, "Luxury has been a core pillar of Frasers Group for more than a decade," generating more than 1 billion pounds in annual sales, and generating a profit.
Murray added: "With over 100 stores across the U.K. and U.S., we've built the expertise, scale and brand relationships to support our next phase of growth. Our ambition is clear: to continue scaling Frasers Group Luxury globally through organic expansion, acquisitions and strategic investments, creating long-term value for our brand partners, customers and the group."
Frasers Group is hosting a launch event for the new division at the Hôtel de Crillon on Monday night during Paris Fashion Week.
Laure Heriard Dubreuil, founder of The Webster, said Frasers has fully supported the retailer since taking a majority stake last year. In November, she added, The Webster will reveal a newly renovated store as part of the Bal Harbour Shops West expansion. It also plans to revamp its South Beach flagship on Collins Avenue.
Alexis Mourot, CEO of Christian Louboutin, said the company has built "a strong partnership" with Frasers Group over the years, "based on trust, open dialogue and a shared ambition to grow our business together. We therefore look forward to this new chapter and to continuing to grow our partnership together."
Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman said the company values Flannels "as a long-standing wholesale partner. Their teams have a deep understanding of their customers, and their store network helps us reach Burberry customers across the U.K., particularly in areas where we do not have directly operated stores."
Frasers Group is also the owner of Sports Direct, Evans Cycles and Gieves & Hawkes on Savile Row.
Its founder and dealmaker-in-chief is the retail tycoon Mike Ashley, who is known for buying struggling companies on the cheap, or straight out of administration, and also taking strategic stakes in the brands that supply the group.
Over the summer Ashley pounced on Hugo Boss, launching a takeover bid that ultimately failed, but still netted the group a nearly 50 percent stake in the German company. Following the bid, Frasers ejected Stephan Sturm, chairman of the Boss supervisory board, and replaced him with Murray, who is Ashley's son-in-law.
The failed bid whetted Ashley's appetite for more, and Frasers said earlier this month that it planned to acquire further shares in Hugo Boss with the aim of gaining full control.
In late 2023 Frasers purchased the fashion retailer Matches in a fire sale, and a few months later shut it down, saying it was too expensive to fix. Frasers later sold the Matches brand and its in-house collection, Raey, to Hulcan Mile, a digital retail group. It is set to be relaunched later this year.
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