Retail news round-up on April 02, 2015: Kurt Geiger to change ownership less than year after last acquisition and womesnwear retailer Ness secures £2.5m funding.

Kurt Geiger to change ownership again

Luxury footwear group Kurt Geiger is set to change hands less than a year after its last acquisition. The upmarket shoe retailer’s management and their backers at private equity firm Sycamore Partners have appointed bankers at Goldman Sachs to examine a sale of part or all of the business, according to Sky News.

The price tag attached to the fashion label, which is moving into the children’s footwear market, is unclear‎ although analysts said it could be in the region of £300m.

Ness attracts £2.5m in development capital

Scottish womenswear and handbags retailer Ness has secured £2.5m of development capital from the YFM Equity Partners-run British Smaller Companies VCTs (venture capital trusts) as it looks to more than treble annual turnover to in excess of £15m within five years. The business is planning a programme of store openings and ramping up its online retailing operation, according to The Herald.