About our Frasers Group news
Latest news on Frasers Group, a British retail company that was founded in 1982 by Mike Ashley. The company is known for owning a diverse portfolio of brands, including Sports Direct, House of Fraser, GAME, Jack Wills, and Flannels.
Frasers Group has a history of making significant acquisitions to expand its brand portfolio. In August 2018, the company agreed to buy all House of Fraser UK stores, the House of Fraser brand, and all of the stock in the business for £90 million in cash, converting all old House of Fraser stores into Sports Direct. Prior to the acquisition, Frasers Group founder Mike Ashley held an 11% stake in the company. In October 2018, Frasers Group purchased Evans Cycles in a pre-pack administration deal, followed by the acquisition of Sofa.com in February 2019.
In August 2019, Frasers Group purchased Jack Wills out of administration for £12.7 million. Later that year, in August 2020, the company announced it would purchase "certain" assets from DW Sports Fitness for £37m, though it would not be using the firm's brand name. In December 2020, Frasers Group was reported to be in talks to acquire Debenhams, though founder Mike Ashley was mainly interested in using empty Debenhams stores to expand his other chains, including House of Fraser, Sports Direct, and Flannels.
In February 2022, the group announced it had purchased some of the assets of the Studio Retail Group from administration, followed by the acquisition of the intellectual property of Missguided and its sister brand Mennace for about £20 million in June 2022, after they went into administration. Most recently, in November 2022, Frasers Group acquired one of London's oldest bespoke tailors, Gieves & Hawkes.