Reebok owner Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has entered the race for British fashion brand Ted Baker.
The brand development and entertainment company, which owns Sports Illustrated magazine and fashion brand Juicy Couture, has been in talks with Ted Baker’s financial advisers for weeks, according to Sky News.
Thursday was the deadline for non-binding indicative offers to be made, with ABG said to have been involved in the process, although it was not certain it would table a formal offer.
London listed Ted Baker officially put itself up for sale earlier this month after it had received a string of bids from US private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
READ: Ted Baker up for sale- what happens next?
Two offers from Sycamore worth 130p and 137.5p per share were both rejected by the fashion company before starting the auction process.
A third undisclosed bid was also made by an unnamed group. Sycamore is taking part in the formal auction.
After the first stage of the sale process, which will be based on public information, a select number of parties would advance to the second stage, according to the company.
ABG, which is valued at £10.1bn, previously attempted to purchase TopShop from Arcadia in a joint deal with JD Sports, before ASOS eventually snapped up the retailer.
For the moment, it is unclear whether ABG would enter a similar partnership to purchase Ted Baker or if it will be attempting to complete this deal on its own.
Ted Baker remains a strong UK brand said analysts even though the shares have lost 90% of their value in the last five years.