Bidders in spades for New Look

New Look is attracting a great deal of interest from potential bidders since it announced it was for sale for £2 billion last month. At least six bidders have made contact with the fashion chain, including private equity groups Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus. They have hired Citigroup and Morgan Stanley respectively to help them with the bid, writes the FT. TPG has a proven track record in retail buy-outs, notably Debenhams, Australian department store group Myer and US department store group Neiman Marcus.

Others believed to be interested are private equity firm CVC Capital, buy-out firm Blackstone and Landmark Group, the Dubai-based group that is in charge of New Look's franchise operations in the Middle East and India . Its chief executive Mahesh Jagtiani already owns 3 percent of the chain. New Look executives could not be reached for comment.

New Look, currently owned by Apax and Permira, asked Merrill Lynch to examine its options last month. An IPO was ruled out. New Look was taken private in 2004 for £699 million and the fashion retailer's chief executive Phil Wrigley would prefer to stay private while the company continues to expand abroad. New Look is already active in Belgium and France. Since its privatisation in 2004, New Look has seen its retail space increase by 50 percent. It has also expanded its offering to include menswear and children's fashion. Last year the chain completed a second refinancing with £350 million worth of PIK (payment-in-kind) notes.