Aurora Fashions reported to speed up Coast’s sale

Aurora Fashions would be reportedly looking for buyers for its Coast label amidst the concerns originated by the fallout of House of Fraser (HoF).

According to sources close to the matter cited by Sky News, the owner of womenswear chains Oasis and Warehouse, has begun contacting prospective buyers in the last couple of weeks about a deal to sell the Coast brand.

It’s worth recalling that the group’s owner, Icelandic bank Kaupthing, has been trying to divest from the fashion group for months. In 2017 Kaupthing came close to selling the entire business to Emerisque Brands, a business owned by an entrepreneur who was at the time the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol., reported Yahoo News UK.

After that deal fell through, restructuring advisers at PricewaterhouseCoopers have been asked to assist with the sale process‎, with Coast said to be in need of new funding after being hit by the crisis at HoF. The label is said to face a multimillion-pound bill following its sale via a pre-pack administration.

In a statement, a Coast spokeswoman said: "We have been working with PwC with regards to a potential sale on an ongoing basis for the past 18 months, so this is nothing new but merely a continuation of that process."