Frasers, which took a significant hit when it acquired Matches for some £52 million only to find the business heavily indebted to its suppliers and to force it into administration, has now acquired the Matches IP. Frasers has expressly not taken on any Matches employees, nor has it acquired any of the stock, much of which has lost a significant part of its value given its seasonality.
This latest deal sees Frasers licensing the brand to administrators Teneo in the short term to enable the sale of stock to generate funds for creditors. The former Matches business owes millions to unsecured creditors, primarily high-end fashion brands, which are unlikely to realise any more than a tiny percentage of their outstanding invoice values.
Meanwhile, Matches customers continue to vent their outrage on social media, as many who had either made high-value returns and not received refunds or had their paid-for orders unfulfilled are most unlikely to be compensated. This, of course, will have made a large dent in Matches’ credibility and standing, impacting the value of the brand. It has not been disclosed how much Frasers has paid to buy back the IP.
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