UPDATE 12.01.21: M&S has confirmed the acquisition of the Jaeger brand. It will complete the purchase of Jaeger’s stock and other assets by the end of the month, and will exclude Jaeger’s 63 remaining stores. The deal is currently being finalised but no purchase price has been released.

What: a department store chain buying a struggling brand

Why it is important: UK retail scene has been particularly hit by the crisis, with big names such as Debenhams and Arcadia falling into administration. Yet it can be the opportunity for some to make strategic acquisitions

08.01.21: UK Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group is struggling and had Peacocks and Jaeger brands filed for administration last November -a results from the covid crisis. The group, owned by billionaire Philip Day, is now looking for buyers for the brands and Marks & Spencer could be one of them. M&S is increasingly looking at adding new brands to its formerly-own-brand-only offer and this could be the perfect opportunity. The department store would buy the brand but not the physical stores, given its own already huge estate of department store across UK.

Marks & Spencer buys Jaeger fashion brand from administrators

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