Joshua Alliance completes £191m N Brown takeover

N Brown Group’s non-executive director and fourth-largest shareholder, Joshua Alliance, has announced the completion of the group’s £191m acquisition. 

News of the deal will see the Alliance family, which already held a controlling stake, take the Jacamo and Simply Be owner private. 

The cash acquisition was initially approved in October 2024, with the remaining shares of the business being acquired by Falcon 24 Bidco, a company controlled by Joshua Alliance.  

Having met the necessary regulatory conditions for the deal completion, N Brown’s acquisition was finalised after the Financial Conduct Authority cleared the deal in December 2024. 

Alliance, who joined the N Brown board in 2020, has now become the sole owner. 

Bidco’s argument for the acquisition was that the retailer, due to its shareholder structure and low trading liquidity, was not benefiting from its public listing while incurring significant costs.

Under the terms of the acquisition, N Brown shareholders, including Frasers Group with a 20.3% stake, will receive 40p per share in cash.

Shareholders can also opt to receive one unlisted ordinary share in Bidco for each N Brown share they own.

The announcement of a recommended acquisition in December came as the bidding company said N Brown was not benefitting from being listed on the AIM market thanks to its current shareholder structure and “very low trading liquidity”, as well as a limited UK fund manager appetite for small cap consumer stocks.