New Look in bid

High street fashion chain New Look has gained a serious bid interest from Warburg Pincus and has been hoping to attract bids in the £2 bn range. The Sunday Times disclosed six weeks ago that New Look's current owners, the private-equity groups Apax and Permira, were considering a sale of the retailer. They had received an approach from Texas Pacific Group. It later emerged that bid plans were also being put together by the Dubai-based Landmark Group, headed by Mahesh ''Micky'' Jagtiani. Landmark owns 3% of New Look.

With Warburg Pincus now unveiled as the third likely bidder, it seems inevitable that New Look, Britain's third-largest retailer of women's fashion, will end up in foreign hands. New Look was taken private three years ago in a £700m deal backed by the company's founder, Tom Singh, and led by the group's chief executive, Phil Wrigley. The company recently hired the accountancy firm Ernst & Young to help draw up an international expansion strategy after signing a five-year deal with Landmark to open 40 stores in the Middle East through a franchise agreement.