Mike Ashley’s retail group has made near-€2bn bid for the German fashion house, in which it holds a 26% stake Business live – latest updates Shares in Hugo Boss jumped nearly 10% on Thursday after the company said it would “thoroughly examine” a near-€2bn takeover approach from the Sports Direct owner Frasers Group . Mike Ashley’s fashion and sportswear business has pounced on the German fashion house, in which it already owns just over a 26% stake, saying late on Wednesday that it was offering about €1.98bn (£1.73bn) to take full control . Continue reading...

UK billionaire’s fashion group offers £166m for takeover of 77.1% of shares in shoe firm it does not already own Business live – latest updates The retail billionaire Mike Ashley has launched his second takeover bid in a week, attempting to snap up Australian footwear business Accent Group, days after announcing a tilt at Hugo Boss. Ashley’s Frasers Group, which already owns the biggest single stake in Accent at 22.9%, said it will offer 65 Australian cents (34p) a share for the remainder of the business, at the same level as its closing price on Friday. Continue reading...