Icelandic consortium offers 14p a share
Baugur has made an offer for the remaining equity in Mosaic Fashions for ISK17.5 (14p) a share.

Baugur, which already holds a majority stake in Mosaic Fashions, will take the fashion group private in deal which values the group at around£850 million, as revealed by Retail Week on May 4.

Baugur was responsible for the creation of Mosaic Fashions. It bought Oasis in 2003 and subsequently bolted on Karen Millen and Whistles before floating the enlarged business on the Icelandic Stock Exchange in 2005.

Baugur also initiated the merger of Mosaic Fashions and Rubicon Retail last year, which has not been as smooth as management had hoped. The Icelandic investment firm was keen to take Mosaic Fashions out of the spotlight while the integration of the two firms is completed.

There has been speculation that Baugur will refloat the business on the London Stock Exchange once its problems have been rectified.

The offer represents a premium of 7.4 per cent to the closing price of ISK16.3 (13p) on May 3. The offer also represents an EV/EBITDA multiple of 9.3 x pro-forma EBITDA for the financial year ending January 2007.

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