Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has snapped up a basket of 15 brands including former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green and 1980s brand Tessuti in a £47.5m cash deal with JD Sports. JD, which owns Size?, Finish Line in the US and Spain’s Sprinter as well as its main retail chain, said the sale of the “non-core” brands would allow it to focus on other priorities, particularly the “international and digital expansion of the group’s core premium sports fashion” retail brands. Ashley’s retail empire has a long history of buying up fashion brands to help bolster profits in its retail empire. Frasers already owns dozens of brands including Everlast, Lonsdale, Karrimor, Agent Provocateur and Firetrap and recently acquired tailoring brand Gieves & Hawkes and online fast fashion specialists Missguided and I Saw it First. It also has large stakes in listed luxury brands Hugo Boss and Mulberry.
