Frasers has launched a €1.98bn takeover offer for the rest of Hugo Boss, moving from a 26% investor to a bid for full control of the German fashion house. The offer would value Hugo Boss shares at €38 each and, if it clears the hurdles ahead, could close in the second half of this year.

The move puts Mike Ashley’s retail group in line to add another major brand to its portfolio, alongside Frasers, Flannels and Evans Cycles. Frasers, which first invested in Hugo Boss in 2020, said it sees the company as a key brand partner and one of its five most important labels, while stressing that it remains supportive of the brand’s current leadership and growth plan.

The bid is also notable because Michael Murray, who took over the day-to-day running of the group from Ashley in 2022, sits on Hugo Boss’s supervisory board because of Frasers’ holding but did not take part in the discussion or decision to make the offer. That matters because the boardroom link gives Frasers a close view inside Hugo Boss even as it tries to turn a strategic stake into outright ownership.

There is, though, a price test already visible in the market. Hugo Boss shares closed at €36.44 on Wednesday, below the €38-a-share offer, which means investors are being asked to accept a premium but not an eye-catching one for a deal that still needs shareholder approval and regulatory clearance.

Frasers said the proposal is expected to go to a shareholder vote, and it hopes to complete the transaction in the second half of this year if it is approved. Ashley, who built the retail group from a single sports store opened in Maidenhead in 1982, still owns 73% of Frasers, giving him control of a company now worth £3.45bn in the market and increasingly tied to the performance of a luxury brand founded in 1924.