Trading platform OvalX is the latest suitor to snap up shares in Manchester-based N Brown Group, home to household names including JD Williams and Simply Be.
OvalX, which offers financial spread betting and corporate brokerage services and recently rebranded from ETX Capital, has snapped up a five per cent stake in the homewares and fashion group, which has recently been experiencing a high level of senior staff turnover.
OvalX’s investment comes after Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group retail empire upped its stake in N Brown to just over five per cent in October as part of an apparent buying spree of North West online fashion brands.
Frasers’ October investment came after it had already acquired Studio Retail Group and Missguided after they entered administration, and also beat off competition from Boohoo to snap up Manchester’s ISawItFirst for an undisclosed fee.
Shares in N Brown were trading at just under 25p on Tuesday morning, compared with a high of almost £6 each at their height eight years ago.