Next remains acquisition-hungry and the fashion retail giant that already owns mother-and-baby/toddler brand Jojo Maman Bébé now also owns maternity label Seraphine.
Seraphine
It’s buying the brand and intellectual property of the label for just £0.6 million. The company confirmed the deal to the Financial Times.
And in a surprise move, the FT said that the label’s founder Cécile Reinaud is set to return in an advisory capacity, working with Next on brand strategy. Reinaud had been keen for Next to acquire Seraphine, hailing Next’s “strong track record of buying retailers out of bankruptcy” and its leadership in logistics and e-commerce. She also noted that “it has a large roster of brands that are targeted at women and Seraphine will sit well in its portfolio”.
It’s a familiar pattern that we’ve seen in the UK fashion retail sector in recent years as distressed brands are acquired by some of the giants of the sector such as Next, M&S and Frasers Group.
Seraphine was a brand on the rise not so many years ago, benefitting from the endorsement of celebrities and royals and seeing items selling out fast when ultra-famous expectant mothers such as the current Princess of Wales or Mila Kunis were seen wearing them.
That helped the brand reach a value of £50 million in late 2020 when its founder and backers sold it, with Reinaud exiting at that point having received £20 million for her share of the business she’d launched in 2002 with start-up capital of £250,000.
It was bought by Mayfair Equity Partners and the firm’s management under CEO (and former ASOS exec) David Williams. They listed it on the stock exchange the following year with a value of £150 million. But with the market downturn devastating the share price, it was taken private again in spring 2023 by Mayfair with a value of just over £15 million. Times remained tough and it went into administration earlier this month.
Next said it will provide a “stable platform” for Seraphine and will focus on “creating stylish, practical solutions for new and expecting mums around the world”.
