LONDON – Frasers Group has wrested control of Hugo Boss, fulfilling a strategy set in motion earlier this year with a near-miss takeover bid and the replacement of the German company’s chairman with Frasers’ CEO Michael Murray.
Frasers said in a stock market filing it acquired 198,666 shares in Hugo Boss on Oct. 23 for 7.63 million euros, giving it 50.08 percent of the total share capital.
The transaction was funded by Frasers’ existing cash resources, and not subject to shareholder approval, according to a statement from the group.
Frasers said crossing the 50 percent threshold is “in the opinion of the board of directors in the best interests of Frasers and Frasers’ shareholders as a whole.”
Going forward, all of the earnings, assets and liabilities of Hugo Boss will be consolidated into Frasers, with Boss becoming a subsidiary of the British group.
Frasers said the gross assets of Hugo Boss as of June, 2026 amounted to 3.5 billion euros, with net assets of 1.6 billion euros at the same date. For the six-month period ended June 30, Hugo Boss reported revenues of 1.8 billion euros and EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 272.0 million euros.
Frasers’ failed takeover bid this past summer only whetted its acquisitive owner Mike Ashley‘s appetite for more. In September, Frasers said it planned to acquire further shares in Hugo Boss with the aim of gaining full control of the company.
The summer bid had boosted Frasers’ holding in Boss to 47.89 percent. With that beefed-up stake, Frasers ousted the Boss chairman, Stephen Sturm, and replaced him with Michael Murray, Frasers’ CEO, and Ashley’s son-in-law, who was already serving as a member of the Hugo Boss supervisory board.
Frasers also installed a second representative, Robert Palmer, on the Boss supervisory board. Palmer is company secretary at Frasers and one of Ashley’s longtime advisers.
Frasers, which owns Sports Direct, Flannels and Frasers stores, is aggressive and often builds up large stakes in its suppliers, and tries to shake up management and supervisory boards in order to get the best possible trading terms for its stores.
Frasers also has stakes in Burberry, Puma and Asos, and tried but failed to take over Mulberry, where it is the second-largest shareholder.
In August, Frasers agreed to purchase Harvey Nichols out of administration. In late 2023 it purchased Matches in a fire sale, and a few months later shut it down, claiming it was too expensive to fix. Frasers later sold the Matches brand and its in-house collection, Raey, to Hulcan, a digital retail group. It is set to be relaunched in the next months.
During Paris Fashion Week earlier this month Frasers unveiled its new luxury “ecosystem,” known as Frasers Group Luxury.
The group describes the portfolio as a collection of “distinctive luxury businesses, digital capabilities, and investments with longstanding strategic brand partners at its core.” The group touted its decade-plus of experience in the luxury sector, and “trusted” relationships with strategic brand partners.
The division includes retailers Flannels and Harvey Nichols in the U.K. and The Webster in the U.S. Frasers also listed its strategic investments in Mulberry, Burberry, Hugo Boss and Hulcan’s Mile as part of the new division.