Is Mytheresa set to acquire YNAP?

After what has been a long and, seemingly, tedious sales process, Swiss luxury giant Richemont may have finally found a buyer for its loss-making e-commerce platform Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP). It has been reported that German luxury e-tailer Mytheresa is close to snapping up what had been its online rival after formerly interested parties, Bain Capital and Permira, were understood to have dropped out.

This is according to The Fashion Law, which said that sources informed the platform of the possible takeover. In addition to this, the media outlet reported that these sources suggested Richemont had agreed to invest between 800 million and one billion euros in a capital increase for YNAP to cover the platform’s losses.

Richemont initially snapped up YNAP in 2018 for a substantial 5.3 billion euros, but has since had to tackle financial setbacks caused by the online luxury platform. Most recently, and compared to other more lucrative firms under the wing of the Swiss conglomerate, YNAP posted a 15 percent sales reduction in the report for the group’s first quarter of the current fiscal year, in which the platform was presented as “discontinued operations”.

This followed reports that YNAP was in the process of shutting down its China operations in an attempt to put focus on markets deemed more profitable. The news came after a deal to sell off Richemont’s 47.5 percent stake in YNAP to Farfetch fell through in light of Coupang’s acquisition of the British rival last year. Problems surrounding YNAP had already been longstanding, however, with Richemont facing heightened scrutiny from investors wanting the firm to offload the struggling e-tailer.