Debenhams: Boohoo acquires the British retail company’s online stores

Debenhams has many outlets in the U.K. and overseas, and like most of the companies that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the British global retailer is also losing money, which forced it to close down some of its stores.

Debenhams bleak future as administration failed

BBC News reported that now Debenhams started to take steps in closing down the business after administrators were not able to secure a good deal for the company to continue. The retail chain that has been around for more than two centuries is shutting down, and it was estimated that a total of 12,000 jobs would be lost in the process.

Closing down sales in most of its existing brick and mortar stores have started since December 2020 while the administrators still try to find a solution to save the entire business. However, they failed.

Last week, Debenhams announced that six of its major shops in the U.K., including its flagship department store in London, will not be reopened. These outlets were shut down due to the lockdown, but as stated, it will no longer continue the business and will be permanently closed.

Boohoo to buy Debenhams

Boohoo, the fashion company that mainly operates online is reportedly acquiring Debenhams’ online store outlet. This firm already purchased many brands in the High Street line that have also gone into administration, such as Karen Millen, Oasis, and Coast.

As per The Guardian, Boohoo is now set to buy Debenhams as well. It was said that it is purchasing the company’s website and brand, but it will not be buying out its brick-and-mortar stores on High Street or taking the employees, so it is mainly about acquiring the online business.

The announcement about Boohoo’s acquisition of Debenhams was posted on the morning of Jan. 25. The transaction or deal between the companies will be formalized this week, and it was said that the purchase price is about £50 million or over $68.5 million.

"Debenhams is a long-standing and leading UK fashion and beauty retailer with high brand awareness,” Sky News quoted Boohoo as saying regarding the acquisition. "The transaction represents a fantastic opportunity to grow the group's target addressable market and increase the share of wallet opportunity through a new capital light and low-risk operating model that is complementary to the group's highly successful direct-to-consumer multi-brand platform."