N Brown is to be bought by an Alliance family member

Alliance, who is a non-executive director of N Brown, made an offer at 40p per share in cash valuing N Brown at about £191m through the acquisition vehicle Falcon 24 Topco Limited.

Alliance already held a 6.6% stake in N Brown, which owns brands such as Jacamo and Simply Be. Other members of the Alliance family ’concert party’ hold about 53.4% of N Brown.

Falcon believes that N Brown’s existing shareholder structure, along with ”very low trading liquidity, and the limited UK fund manager appetite for small-cap consumer stocks”, means the business is not benefiting from its listing on AIM market while shouldering associated costs.

It also believes that the deal “presents an opportunity to acquire a portfolio of well-established fashion brands, supported by an innovative financial services platform that is currently under development, with a long history and heritage in the UK clothing and footwear market” and that it can “support N Brown in accelerating its long-term growth potential”.

N Brown chief executive Steve Johnson and chief financial officer Dominic Appleton have agreed to swap their shares for stock in Falcon – an option also open to other shareholders rather than taking cash – and Falcon said the executives’ decision demonstrates their confidence in N Brown’s prospects.