New Look names new chairman

South African investment group Brait has completed its acquisition of high street fashion chain New Look and installed its chief executive as non-executive chairman.

Brait’s John Gnodde will be replacing Paul Mason, former chief executive of Asda and the current chairman of New Look, on the board. Gnodde will serve as New Look’s non-executive chairman alongside his role at Brait.

New Look also confirmed that Anders Kristiansen CEO, Mike Iddon CFO and Roger Wightman CCO remain with the company and their existing roles and responsibilities will be unchanged.

Brait, owned by South African billionaire Christo Wiese, acquired a 90 percent stake in New Look in May in a deal worth 780 million pounds. It is thought that the acquisition has valued the UK’s second-largest womenswear retailer at 1.9 billion pounds. The Singh family interests and the current management of the company acquired the remaining 10 percent.

Brait completes New Look acquisition

The fashion chain also confirmed that it had successfully refinanced its 1 billion pound debt, which optimises its capital structure, reduces costs, extends maturities to 2022 and eliminates the company’s former PIK loans.

New Look’s chief executive, Anders Kristiansen, said: “This is a very exciting time for New Look. The acquisition of our equity by Brait, coupled with our successful refinancing, leaves us strongly positioned to achieve our strategic goals.

"The refinancing represents a further step forward for the business. Our capital structure has been improved and the repayment of our former debt arrangements has allowed us to remove all remaining PIK loans from our balance sheet. Maturities have also been extended, giving us additional flexibility as we continue to deliver on our strategic priorities of brand, multichannel, international expansion, product development and menswear.”

Image: New Look