It’s been a busy week over at Frasers Group. Tensions are heating up between the Flannels owner and German fashion brand Hugo Boss after Frasers’ takeover offer received clearance from the European Commission.

Hugo Boss had encouraged its shareholders to vote against the €38 per share cash offer, which values the brand at £1.73bn. The fashion house stated the offer was “financially inadequate” and that it did not require external investment to execute its turnaround strategy.

It seemed a possible takeover would be off the table until Frasers decided to raise its stake to over 30% – crossing the threshold for a mandatory takeover bid. Hugo Boss shareholders now have until August 13 to make a decision.

What’s more interesting is that Frasers purchased a 4% stake in Burberry yesterday. Of course, it’s too early in the day to start speculating, but one has to wonder whether Mike Ashley’s retail group has set its sights on owning a luxury fashion brand and won’t walk away without a fight.

Word on the street is that final bids for Harvey Nichols were due yesterday, with Frasers also in the mix of potential suitors.

This has all cast a bit of a shadow over the grand unveiling of its latest Sports Direct flagship in the Irish capital. Frasers has spent almost £70m on transforming the former Debenhams store in Dublin into an 85,000 sq ft four-storey sports destination.

Sitting alongside a 60,000 sq ft Sports Direct store is a 25,000 sq ft Everlast gym, the first outside the UK. In a Retail Week exclusive, Frasers chief executive Michael Murray shares more about the store’s launch and the group’s international ambitions. 

Ted Baker’s high street return. And speaking of investment into physical retail, Ted Baker owner Authentic is ramping up the lifestyle brand’s presence on the high street. It’s been steadily unveiling new concession spaces for its fashion collections inside Selfridges’ regional stores over the past couple of months, and it seems standalone stores are now officially on the horizon.

I caught up with Authentic’s senior vice-president of brand EMEA and India Nicola Mathews to find out how Ted Baker is plotting its high street return.

In season. Mango reported its half-year revenues this week, revealing that its “strong value proposition” had helped it deliver growth ahead of the global fashion market. Sales were up 7.2% in the first half to £1.54bn – or 10.7% based on constant exchange rates. The retailer opened 127 stores and completed 37 refurbishments around the world, bringing its total store estate to over 2,960 points of sale across 120 markets.

Shein tells all. The fast-fashion giant has done its best to remain quiet in recent years, despite being one of the biggest retailers in the world. However, that’s all set to change. Shein received approval earlier this month for its planned Hong Kong IPO and details about the business have started emerging over the past week.

The retailer booked a $99m loss in the first quarter – a steep fall from the net income of $395m the year before – due to the end of the small package import duty exemption in the US. With the likes of the UK and Europe also planning to close the de minimis loophole, Shein will have to figure out a solution quickly. The ecommerce giant also revealed that its US operations are under investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission and it could face significant fines as a result.

*Add to basket* Inditex-owned Lefties is gearing up to open its first UK store next month. The retailer officially launched its ecommerce platform this week for British consumers – I might have started putting together my wishlist already.

Until next time,

Aoife Morgan, senior fashion reporter 

Email me any tips, comments or feedback to aoife.morgan@retail-week.com