Asos‘s share price jumped 11.8 per cent today after a report emerged that the retailer received a £1bn takeover bid from a Turkish retailer backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Turkish online retailer Trendyol put in an offer valuing Asos at £10 to £12 a share in late December. That compares to its latest closing price of £3.50 last Friday. Asos shares jumped 10 per cent to £3.86 on Monday morning.
Trendyol, an up-and-coming fast fashion retailer, was understood to have approached Asos in late December, according to a report in The Sunday Times, whilst the brand was facing dwindling sales and operational changes.
The Turkish platform, which launched in 2010, is said to have been working with Morgan Stanley to make the offer, and also approached one of Asos’s leading investors, Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen, to see if he would be interested in participating in the deal.
The rumoured bid would value Asos at between £10 to £12 a share.
Asos recently reported a half-year loss of £291million. Last month it announced a £75million fundraising from investors. And last week it emerged the firm, valued at just over £400million, would be relegated from the FTSE 250.
