The American firm which has a stake in David Beckham’s branded merchandise portfolio has moved into pole place within the race to snap up Hunter Boot, the royal warrant-holding footwear model.

Sky News understands that Authentic, which additionally owns Ted Baker and Reebok, has been named the popular bidder for Hunter as a sale course of which has been working for greater than two months nears a conclusion.

One supply prompt {that a} deal might worth Hunter at as a lot as £100m - properly forward of earlier expectations.

China's BaoZun, a digital commerce group which owns Gap's operations in Greater China, stays fascinated with a deal if the talks with ABG falter, the supply added.

In March, Hunter Boot secured a multimillion pound funding lifeline, with present shareholders injecting £5m into the enterprise and lenders contributing an extra £2m.

Hunter, whose boots have continuously been seen adorning festival-going celebrities corresponding to Kate Moss and the Princess of Wales, has been working with advisers at AlixPartners on the public sale.

The firm was final saved in 2020 by way of a £16.5m capital injection, a part of which got here from Pall Mall Legacy, a fund backed by Goldman Sachs.

Pall Mall Legacy owns the vast majority of Hunter's shares, with Searchlight Capital Partners, a non-public fairness agency, and Pentland Group, the sportswear large behind manufacturers corresponding to Speedo, holding the rest.

Hunter, which was based in 1856 because the North British Rubber Company, has seen a post-Covid rebound in gross sales, with income in China accounting for a piece of its development.

Hunter is certainly one of solely ten corporations to carry two royal warrants - certainly one of which was issued by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The cancellation of reside leisure occasions and music festivals corresponding to Glastonbury throughout the pandemic had a extreme impression on Hunter.

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The firm was traditionally dominated by gross sales of Wellington boots, however has diversified right into a broader array of life-style merchandise.

It has exited its retail retailer portfolio corresponding to its former flagship on London's Regent Street except for a website at Bicester Village and Woodbury in New York.

A spokesman for Hunter declined to remark, whereas ABG couldn't be reached for remark.

Content Source: information.sky.com