Private equity firm Sycamore weighs bid for fashion chain Ted Baker – Sky News

(Corrects to say 98.75 ‘pence’, not ‘pounds’, in paragraph 5)

(Reuters) -U.S. private equity firm Sycamore Partners is weighing a takeover bid for the British fashion retailer Ted Baker, Sky News reported on Thursday.

Sycamore was considering making a formal approach, the report said adding that the equity firm has hired investment bank Numis to advise on the potential offer.

This comes after a Wall Street Journal report earlier this week said that Sycamore and Canada’s Hudson’s Bay plan to bid in high $60s a share for Kohl’s Corp. Kohl’s had previously rejected buyout offers in February.

Ted Baker and Sycamore declined Reuters requests for a comment.

Ted Baker’s shares closed up 8.88% on Thursday at 98.75 pence, giving the company a total valuation of 182.3 million pounds ($239.65 million), Reuters calculations based on Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

In February, Ted Baker said it is “cautiously optimistic” about the outlook for the current year after a 35% year-on-year jump in sales in the fourth quarter, a period when pandemic-related restrictions were still in place.

($1 = 0.7607 pounds)

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)