The American firm which has a stake in David Beckham’s branded merchandise portfolio has moved into pole place within the race to snap up Hunter Boot, the royal warrant-holding footwear model.
Sky News understands that Authentic, which additionally owns Ted Baker and Reebok, has been named the popular bidder for Hunter as a sale course of which has been working for greater than two months nears a conclusion.
One supply recommended {that a} deal might worth Hunter at as a lot as £100m – effectively forward of earlier expectations.
China’s BaoZun, a digital commerce group which owns Gap’s operations in Greater China, stays thinking about a deal if the talks with ABG falter, the supply added.
In March, Hunter Boot secured a multimillion pound funding lifeline, with current shareholders injecting £5m into the enterprise and lenders contributing an additional £2m.
Hunter, whose boots have often been seen adorning festival-going celebrities reminiscent of Kate Moss and the Princess of Wales, has been working with advisers at AlixPartners on the public sale.
The firm was final saved in 2020 via a £16.5m capital injection, a part of which got here from Pall Mall Legacy, a fund backed by Goldman Sachs.
Pall Mall Legacy owns the vast majority of Hunter’s shares, with Searchlight Capital Partners, a non-public fairness agency, and Pentland Group, the sportswear big behind manufacturers reminiscent of Speedo, holding the rest.
Hunter, which was based in 1856 because the North British Rubber Company, has seen a post-Covid rebound in gross sales, with income in China accounting for a piece of its progress.
Hunter is one in every of solely ten firms to carry two royal warrants – one in every of which was issued by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The cancellation of reside leisure occasions and music festivals reminiscent of Glastonbury through the pandemic had a extreme impression on Hunter.
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The firm was traditionally dominated by gross sales of Wellington boots, however has diversified right into a broader array of way of life merchandise.
It has exited its retail retailer portfolio reminiscent of its former flagship on London’s Regent Street except for a web site at Bicester Village and Woodbury in New York.
A spokesman for Hunter declined to remark, whereas ABG couldn’t be reached for remark.
Source: information.sky.com”