New Look and Debs takeovers loom closer

Bids for fashion group New Look and department store business Debenhams edged forward this week.

New Look founder Tom Singh has made an indicative proposal to buy the retailer, valuing it at about£660 million. Singh already controls a 28 per cent stake in New Look.

Separately, venture capitalists Texas Pacific and CVC are close to completing their due diligence work on Debenhams, which this week impressed the city with a trading update.

Like-for-like sales for the year to August 30 were up 3.7 per cent. Texas Pacific and CVC, with retail deal-maker John Lovering, are expected to table a bid for Debenhams higher than Permira's offer of£1.54 billion.