Brait completes the acquisition of 90 percent in New Look

Private equity firm Brait said on Friday that it had completed its acquisition of 90 percent of UK fashion retailer New Look for 780 million pounds.

The founders and management of the British retailer had purchased the remainder.

South African billionaire Christo Wiese’s Brait said in a statement that New Look had successfully concluded its debt refinancing, which optimises its capital structure, reduces costs, extends maturities to 2022 and eliminates the company’s former PIK (payment in kind) loans.

Sources close to the matter point out that the deal values the UK's second-biggest womenswear retailer at almost 2 billion pounds including debt, will mark its first change of ownership in more than a decade.

Brait entered New Look’s equity after former owners, venture capital firms Apax and Permira, which bought the chain in 2004, abandoned their plans for a potential flotation.