By
Sandra Halliday
Published July 21, 2026
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Frasers Group now owns 30%+ of Hugo Boss, offer still open but price hasn’t risen
BySandra Halliday
PublishedJuly 21, 2026
Frasers Group issued an update on its offer for Hugo Boss on Tuesday but it wasn’t news of an increase to the offer price that some shareholders may have been hoping for
The UK retail group said that further to its announcements in June about its voluntary public takeover offer, it has acquired a further 2.5 million+ Hugo Boss shares. The extra shares amount to around 3.69% of the share capital and voting rights of the business following the exercise by the relevant counterparties of ‘put options’ on 17 July.Frasers now holds in aggregate almost 21 million Hugo Boss shares, which add up to around 30.28% of the share capital and voting rights of the German premium fashion giant, excluding additional Hugo Boss Shares that have been tendered into the offer.
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That means Frasers has exceeded the mandatory bid threshold of 30% as provided for in the German Takeover Code. As with the UK takeover code, crossing this 30% limit triggers a legal obligation to launch a mandatory takeover offer for all remaining outstanding shares of a stock exchange-listed company.That said, a company keen to buy another business in which it holds such a sizeable stake doesn’t mean it will be successful. Frasers launched a takeover attempt for Mulberry — in which it held around a 37% stake — in 2024. But Challice (which holds over 56%) opposed this and Frasers remains a sizeable shareholder without controlling the business.Its €38 per share offer for Hugo Boss remains open but will end on 27 July.Whether any more shareholders will want to sell their holdings remains unclear. Frasers has already said that it won’t increase the offer and Hugo Boss has urged shareholders not to accept as it believes the offer undervalues the business.The shares had traded at a low of a little over €34 earlier this year and were changing hands for little more than €35 in early June. They rose to a high of €39.76 immediately after the Frasers bid interest became known. But they fell back to around the offer price when Frasers’ unwillingness to pay more and Hugo Boss’s unwillingness to sell at that price because clear.Will this standoff end up like Mulberry with Frasers owning a big chunk of Hugo Boss without controlling it? Will Frasers buy more shares on the open market if the price falls back on the €38 offer expiring? We don’t know, of course. But with Frasers also interested in Harvey Nichols at present, it’s certainly an interesting story to watch from the sidelines.
Tags :FashionLuxuryBeautyBusiness
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