Edinburgh Woollen Mill said to be in the lead to acquire Jaeger

London - Philip Day, owner of The Edinburgh Woollen Group, is said to be in the lead to acquire struggling high street retailer Jaeger.

Entrepreneur and billionaire Day, whose Group previously took over struggling menswear retailer Austin Reed, has been pegged as the mostly likely to take over Jaeger from a group of bidders which includes Harold Tillman, former owner of Jaeger and Mike Ashley, owner of Sports Direct, reports This is Money.

A post shared by Jaeger (@jaegerofficial) on Mar 15, 2017 at 5:17am PDT

Sources have stated that Edinburgh Woollen Mill is in the best position to purchase the retailer from its current owner, private equity company Better Capital, hired AlixPartner to help find a potential buyer for Jaeger. "Edinburgh Woollen Mill has a history of buying troubled retailers and turning them around, and it’s one of the more credible bidders for Jaeger," said one source. Over the last few years the Group held by Day has acquired Peacocks, Jane Norman and Austin Reed out of administration.

Better Capital first acquired Jaeger for 19.5 million pounds in 2012, but has been struggling to keep the fashion brand afloat in increasingly difficult market conditions. Total annual sales for Jaeger dropped 5.8 million pounds to 78.4 million pounds last year and the company report a pre-tax loss of 5.4 million according to accounts filed at the Companies House. However the high street retailer has been working on implementing a turnaround strategy, which focuses on pushing full-price sales and repositioning the brand, to help increase sales.