Mulberry founder suggests LVMH may be best fit for bidder
It comes after the retailer rejected an £83m bid from Sports Direct CEO Mike Ashley last week, despite admitting that Mulberry has struggled in recent years
Roger Saul, the founder of luxury handbag retailer Mulberry, has told This is Money that it would fit “more naturally” with a European luxury group like LVMH.
It comes after the retailer rejected an £83m bid from Sports Direct CEO Mike Ashley last week, despite admitting that Mulberry has struggled in recent years.
According to Saul, who started the business in 1971 in Somerset, said that “the company needs to go back to the spirit of the brand”, having languished and become “too reliant on handbags”.
While Singapore billionaire Ong Beng Seng has a controlling stake, Ashley is the second-largest of Mulberry’s shareholders.
It is understood that Ashley aims to change his retail portfolio to be more “upmarket”.
Saul told This is Money: “Ashley is a good retailer, but the company has been tied up and a battle created. LVMH could step in. It’s a strong brand. To build a brand like that from scratch would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.”
Retail Sector has approached Mulberry for a comment.
