Fashion retailer Scotch & Soda toasts new dawn with Sun sale plan

A fashion brand with stores in prominent British locations including London’s Covent Garden is exploring a sale after more than a decade in private equity ownership.

Sky News has learnt that Scotch & Soda, which is based in Amsterdam, has drafted in advisers to oversee an auction following talks about a refinancing of the business.

Scotch & Soda is owned by Sun European Partners, a private equity investor, and is sold through fewer than a handful of standalone UK shops as well as in department stores.

Retail industry sources said that Teneo, the professional services firm, had been hired to run the sale process.

Rothschild had been advising Scotch & Soda on its refinancing plans, while EY has been engaged to work with the company’s lenders.

Sun has been an investor in the fashion label since 2011, when it jointly acquired the business with Kellwood, one of Sun’s portfolio companies at the time.

Insiders said Sun was expected to sell the entirety of its controlling stake in Scotch & Soda as part of the process.

The brand’s valuation was unclear on Tuesday although it is thought to be on track to make more than €20m in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation this year.

Scotch & Soda is said to be planning to expand both its store portfolio and wholesale operations.

A Sun European spokeswoman declined to comment.