Manchester-based online retailer Boohoo has completed an £18.2m acquisition of womenswear brand Karen Millen and its sister brand Coast.
The group made the announcement after it confirmed it had made an offer to acquire the brands today, in response to media speculation.
Boohoo Group CEO John Lyttle said: “The acquisition of the online business of two great and renowned British brands in Karen Millen and Coast represents another milestone in the group’s growth story as it continues to invest in its scalable multi-brand platform and gain further share in the global fashion e-commerce market.”
The group acquired the online business and all associated intellectual property rights from the administrators of Karen Millen Fashions Limited and Karen Millen Retail Limited after both entered into administration on August 6, funded by its “existing cash resources”.
The brands were recently put up for sale by Icelandic bank, Kaupthing.
The group said the online business of the brands are “highly complementary additions to its scalable multi-brand platform”.
"Their acquisition extends the group's offer as part of its vision to lead the fashion e-commerce market globally," it added.
Karen Millen, founded by Karen Millen and Kevin Stanford in 1981, acquired Coast, founded in 1996, out of administration in October 2018.
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In its most recent financial year, to the year ended February 2019, unaudited management information shows direct online sales from the websites of Karen Millen and Coast totalled £28.4m, Boohoo said.
It also showed revenues across all operations for both brands totalled £174.1m for the same period.