Asos waved away Trendyol’s rumoured bid last year, and while others may be eyeing a bargain deal for the beleaguered retailer, they will need to broker a deal which brings its largest shareholder on board.
Reports, first broken by The Sunday Times, suggest the Turkish competitor, backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, launched a £1bn takeover bid in December last year.
Trendyol was supposedly working with Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to make the offer and even approached Anders Povlsen, owner of Bestseller and the largest shareholder in Asos, to see if he would be interested in participating in a deal.
However, six months on, a move evidently did not materialise, and talks with Trendyol are not thought to be currently active.
With that being said, Asos’ share price has nearly halved since December to 383p, and others may be looking at snapping up a legacy brand at a bargain price.
Who could be interested?
Takeover interest often emerges when a failing company, Asos in this example, show signs of recovery.
The would-be buyer decides to snap the company up now while it is still in the process of being repaired as opposed to later down the line when the price becomes inflated.
However, its most recent update painted the opposite picture, with losses widening, ongoing struggles with day-to-day activity and a need to raise £75mln to boost its ailing balance sheet riddled with debt.
An obvious name who may be keeping a close eye on the situation at Asos is Frasers.
The retailer has made a habit of buying up failing brands such as Gieves & Hawkes and I Saw It First, and it already holds a roughly 7% stake in Asos.
Further afield, competitors Shein may also consider a move as a way to gain greater exposure to Asos' dominant market, the UK and Ireland.
Amazon and eBay were once the subject of rumoured bids, although they were never confirmed.
The Bestseller problem
Any bid would not be easy, however, and would need to bring in the group’s largest shareholder, Polvsen, who owns roughly 26% of Asos.
The Swedish retailer has been through the ups and downs at Asos and has been reluctant to sell so far.
“Would Bestseller like to sell out they’re holding? I wouldn’t have thought so,” said John Stevenson, retail analyst at Peel Hunt.
“Would they be potentially part of a consortium to take it private? It’s a possibility,” Stevenson added.
Many companies will be keeping an eye on the situation at Asos to see if they can sniff out a deal, although Bestseller and Povlsen still hold all the cards.