Mulberry founder suggests LVMH ‘step in’ following Frasers offer

A week on from when Frasers Group brought forth a takeover offer for Mulberry, the founder of the luxury brand has come forward with his own take on the situation.

Roger Saul, who founded the firm in 1971, has suggested that French luxury giant LVMH would be a more appropriate suitor for a takeover of the brand, which has now entered an offer period in light of Frasers’ proposal.

Speaking to This Is Money, Saul responded to Mulberry’s financial struggles in recent years, stating: “The company needs to go back to the spirit of the brand as a whole. It has languished. It has become too reliant on handbags.”

Saul added: “[The founder of Frasers, Mike] Ashley is a good retailer, but the company has been teed 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.”

Frasers made its 83 million pound bid for Mulberry last week after the accessories company announced the launch of a capital raising via a subscription of new ordinary shares, with the goal of securing 10 million pounds to strengthen its balance sheet.

Frasers, which now owns 37.3 percent in Mulberry shares after upping its holding following Mulberry’s rejection of the offer, said that the share subscription plan was an “unsatisfactory” response to the company’s depleting share value and lacklustre financials.