Next and Frasers go head to head for control of Harvey Nichols

Retail giants Next and Frasers are set to go head to head for control of ailing department store Harvey Nichols when the Hong Kong-owned firm takes bids from British suitors later on Tuesday.

The Knightsbridge-headquartered department store chain was put up for sale last month by its owner, Hong Kong billionaire Sir Dickson Poon, and is looking for a buyer to upgrade its store estate and drive international expansion.

Harvey Nichols has given interested British parties until the end of Tuesday to table their final takeover bids, CityAM understands. 

The firm is also attracting interest from overseas but these bidders are being managed in a separate process which is running slightly behind the talks with UK suitors.  

Next and Frasers’s interest in the department store, first reported by Sky News, could see two very different high street operators pitted against each other.

For FTSE 100 retail giant Next, its interest in Harvey Nichols is relatively straightforward. The company, under the leadership of chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson, has snapped up a number of high street brands in recent years and has made clear that it plans to continue making acquisitions. 

Most recently, Next bought footwear brand Russell & Bromley for £2.5m in January. This extended a years-long shopping spree which included vintage-inspired retailer Cath Kidston and up-market clothes brand Joules.

A deal to buy Harvey Nichols would “extend [Next’s] successful brand portfolio strategy and bring access to a more affluent customer base,” retail analyst Nicholas Found said. 

Though the retailer’s recent purchases have each been on the upper end of the high street, the department store would mark a step up for Next, he added. “Luxury retail requires theatre, hospitality and high-touch service beyond its usual operating model.”

Analysts said Next could use its “total platform” system – which provides online logistics and marketing to third-party brands – to upgrade Harvey Nichol’s minimal online presence.

If Frasers Group follows through with its widely-tipped play for Harvey Nichols, its billionaire founder Mike Ashley will hope to make the department store the next front in his assault on high-end fashion. 

The FTSE 250 firm has garnered a reputation for making aggressive plays for control of rival retailers by taking large stakes and pushing for board positions. 

The company’s entrance into the auction for Harvey Nichols caused a stir among some of the department store’s suppliers, though chief executive Michael Murray told CityAM their objections were “nonsense rumours”. 

Having started out in affordable sportswear with Sports Direct, Ashley has begun pushing into luxury fashion in recent years, aiming to build on Flannels, the designer brand his group owns.

Most recently, Frasers has been piling pressure on German fashion house Hugo Boss to accept its unsolicited £1.7bn takeover bid. The group is pushing for Murray – Ashley’s son-in-law – to become Boss’s chief executive, according to The Times.

Flannels would provide a “strong strategic fit” for Harvey Nichols, Found said. The department store could “ become the flagship of [Frasers’s] elevation strategy, although brands will want clear safeguards around distribution, discounting and the independence of the Harvey Nichols brand”. 

Frasers could not be reached for comment.

These two established retail operators could face surprise competition from a new arrival on the high street, in the shape of Modella Capital. 

The Mayfair-based private equity firm was only established in 2022 but has quickly made its mark on the high street, snapping up struggling retailers like Claire’s Accessories and WH Smith’s retail footprint. 

Claire’s Accessories fell into administration soon after Modella bought it, and the private equity firm this month passed a divisive restructuring plan which it said was needed to save its WH Smith stores – now renamed TG Jones – at the expense of up to 150 sites.

But sources familiar with the matter said that Modella is considered less likely than Frasers and Next to table a final bid, because of reports that Harvey Nichols is demanding a £60m commitment to turn around the business. 

“[Next] is far better suited to scale the business than a traditional turnaround player like Modella Capital, and Modella are unlikely to invest anything like the money Harvey Nichols need anyway,” said independent retail analyst Jonathan De Mello.

Harvey Nichols’s leadership is expected to choose its new owner towards the end of next week, according to sources familiar with the auction process. 

The department store, which was made famous through its association with hit 1990s sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, has struggled to compete with rivals Harrods and Selfridges in recent years. 

The firm’s leadership will prefer the bidder which commits to upgrading its Edinburgh store in line with recent refurbishments to the Knightsbridge flagship and is keen to upgrade its international and online presence, it is understood.