Asos hives off 75% stake in Topshop and Topman to Danish firm Heartland

The online retailer is to set up a joint venture to offload 75% of its ownership in the brands, which have not operated physical stores since 2021.

Asos is to offload 75% of its stake in the Topshop and Topman brands, in a deal which values them at £180 million (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

Asos is to offload 75% of its stake in the Topshop and Topman brands, in a deal which values them at £180 million.

The online fashion retailer said on Thursday that it will sell three-quarters of its ownership in the brands to Danish firm Heartland by forming a 75:25 joint venture with the Nordic company.

Heartland is the holding company belonging to Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, and also owns clothing retailer Bestseller, which runs 2,800 retail stores across 30 countries. It holds a significant stake in Asos.

Asos will get £135 million for its stake in the two brands, which have not operated physical shops since they came under the online shop’s umbrella several years ago.

It said it will also have the right to sell a further 5% in the brands for £9 million at a later date, as part of the deal.

(The deal will help) accelerate our strategy to both offer customers the best and most relevant product and to turn Asos into a company that delivers sustainable, profitable growth

Asos chief executive Jose Antonio Ramos Calamonte

Chief executive Jose Antonio Ramos Calamonte said the move will help “accelerate our strategy to both offer customers the best and most relevant product and to turn Asos into a company that delivers sustainable, profitable growth”.

Asos bought high-street stalwarts Topshop and Topman out of administration in 2021, along with Miss Selfridge and HIIT and £65 million of stock, for £330 million, during the collapse of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group.

However, the retailer has also been struggling of late, plunging to a £120 million half-year loss in April as sales plummeted nearly 20%.

In a trading update on Thursday morning Asos said it has made “progress” on a turnaround plan that has seen it try to sell more of its own-brand clothes this year.

The company said it is also using artificial intelligence to “better understand” why people are returning clothes orders.

Mr Holch Povlsen was named as Scotland’s richest man in this year’s Sunday Times rich list, and is reportedly the country’s biggest landowner.

As well as owning a retail empire including Bestseller, which was founded by his parents in 1975, he owns about 220,000 acres in the Highlands.

Heartland chief executive Lise Kaae said the deal will bring “the best of the Topshop and Topman brands to customers globally, while supporting Asos’s strategy to obtain a more efficient capital allocation”.