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Dec 28, 2016
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Boohoo bids $20m for Nasty Gal as it targets US expansion

By
Reuters
Published
Dec 28, 2016

The speculation was right. Boohoo.com is bidding for failed US business Nasty Gal the UK e-tailer said Wednesday.

The company, which only this month said it was acquiring rival PrettyLittleThing, has entered into a deal to buy “certain intellectual property assets from Nasty Gal Inc for $20m,” although there’s no guarantee that this will end with the firm buying its US-based peer.


Nasty Gal could join the Boohoo family - Foto: nastygal.com



It had been widely assumed that Boohoo would make a play for the brand following Nasty Gal’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing early last month. Nasty Gal went under despite having revenue of $77.1m in the year to February. It made a net loss of $21m in that year.

But Boohoo thinks it can make the brand work and, subject to US court approval, a subsidiary, will be “appointed as the ‘stalking horse’ bidder for the Nasty Gal brand and customer databases, in accordance with Section 363 of the US Bankruptcy Code,” it said. There will be a 30-day bidding process and other bidders could emerge during that time.

Founded by Sophia Amoruso in 2006, the youthful Nasty Gal brand should “complement Boohoo's own inclusive and inspirational brand,” it said, adding that “leveraging the group's existing product development, supply and distribution expertise,” should boost its growth in the US and globally.

Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, Boohoo’s joint CEOs, said Wednesday: "Should we be successful in acquiring Nasty Gal it would represent a fantastic opportunity to add such a well-established, global brand to the Boohoo family."
 

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