Frasers Group adds to Hugo Boss stake again

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 8, 2022

Frasers group has upped its holding in Hugo Boss AG again with the new “strategic investment” seeing it now controlling a very substantial stake in the German high-end fashion giant.

It holds 1.5 million of the firm’s common stock representing 2.1% of Hugo Boss's total share capital. But significantly, it also has 16.3 million shares of the common stock via the sale of ‘put options’, representing 23.2% of the share capital.

A put option is an option to sell assets at an agreed price on or before a particular date.

The UK business said its holding “reflects Frasers Group's belief in the Hugo Boss brand, strategy and management team. Frasers Group continues to intend to be a supportive stakeholder and create value in the interests of both Frasers Group's and Hugo Boss' shareholders”.

It added that the common stock holding is valued at the closing share price on 7 April of around €715 million — or just under £600 million.

The stake Frasers now has is a step up from the under-20% it declared earlier in March. Last spring, Frasers was forced to deny it had takeover aims for the German giant after it continued to build its stake steadily, The company had first bought into the firm in June 2020.