The playboy son of
Public Group active 3 years, 1 month agoThe playboy son of ‘s billionaire boss hailed his father’s £55million takeover of Debenhams by revealing the family used to shop there every Saturday ‘looking for cheap TVs’. Boohoo owner Mahmud Kamani today bought the Debenhams brand with plans to make it an online-only operation – putting up to 12,000 jobs at risk as he hopes to create the Amazon of fast-fashion.All of the retailer’s 124 stores will close for good, spelling the end of the brand on the high street after 242 years.Mr Kamani’s son Umar, himself the founder of fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, made a nod to the family’s humble beginnings in Manchester by tweeting about the deal: ‘Mad that we used to go into Debenhams every Saturday looking for cheap TV’s with my dad.’ Aged just 32, Umar’s wealth has allowed him to buy a mansion, a fleet of cars, including two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a £300,000 Lamborghini Aventador, a £92,000 customised G-Class Mercedes and a high-end Range Rover.And jeepininmidwest.com he has also been linked with some of the world’s most beautiful women and friends with Hollywood.Debenhams has been sold for £55million but was valued at £1.7billion when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006 and made a record £160million profit in 2013.
Today its shares are worthless after recent annual losses approached £500million.Its purchase spells another step into the mainstream for fast-fashion giant Boohoo, owned by Mahmud Kamani, which had its reputation badly damaged following revelations that its suppliers used sweatshops in Leicester to produce cheap clothing during lockdown. Boohoo founder Mahmud Kamani has purchased Debenhams for £55million. Today his son Umar (pictured together), himself the founder of PrettyLittleThing, remembered how the Manchester family used to visit the store every week ‘looking for cheap TVs’Despite the scandal, revenues jumped 40 per cent to £660.8million and profits surged to £68.1million during the pandemic, Boohoo Group, which also owns the PrettyLittleThing website run by Mr Kamani’s playboy son Umar, announced earlier this month.Mr Kamani said today: ‘Our acquisition of the Debenhams brand is strategically significant as it represents a huge step which accelerates our ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion eCommerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport and homeware.’ There is also a new battle of the British billionaires as three of the country’s richest businessmen also went into battle for the remainder of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia retail empire after it collapsed last year. Mr Kamani, worth £1billion, is fighting with online rival ASOS, run by Scotland’s richest man Anders Holch Povlsen, worth £6.1billion, for the purchase of the Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge brands in what would be one of the biggest shake-ups of the British retail landscape in decades. The Blackburn-born billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who made their £3.56billion from petrol stations and recently bought the supermarket chain Asda, have also been locked in secret talks to buy Topshop. But this morning Mr Povlsen’s ASOS said in a statement to shareholders: ‘ASOS plc notes recent media speculation and confirms that it is in exclusive discussions with the Administrators of Arcadia over the acquisition of the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT’.
But a spokesman said a deal is not inevitable. Some experts have suggested the £55million price tag for Debenhams is too high – and questioned whether the department store’s concessions including Clinique and Lancome will want to be associated with Boohoo after the sweatshop scandal. Aged just 32, Umar Kamani’s wealth has allowed him to buy a mansion, a fleet of cars, including two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a £300,000 Lamborghini Aventador, a £92,000 customised G-Class Mercedes and a high-end Range Rover.
Today he remembered simpler times when his family would visit Debenhams in Manchester in search of a bargain A picture from Umar Kamani’s Instagram on 18 April 2020 with the caption ‘Isolationship’ with Nada Adelle.
Mr Kamani, son of Mahmud, is CEO & Founder PrettyLittleThing.com, known for his lavish lifestyle Mr Kamani was only four when his Gujarati father Abdullah joined an exodus of Asians from Kenya where draconian employment laws prevented them from making a living.
Pictured: Mahmud Kamani with his wife, parents and high-living childrenLockdown has seen the Boohoo brands make tens of millions more in profit and they hope the Debenhams stable will take them to the next level. Mahmud Kamani wants to be the Amazon for fast-fashion, beauty and homeware.But it is a world away from the humble beginnings for the Kamani family, who have been hailed as one of the UK’s great ‘rags to riches’ tales. Mahmud started out selling handbags on a Manchester market stall after arriving from India via Kenya.PLT was founded by Mr Kamani’s sons Adam and Umar in 2012 following the enormous success of their father’s business and reported a turnover of £374million in 2018.By 2022, the company is forecast to be worth around £2.1billion. The Boohoo Group bought a 34 per cent stake in PLT for £269.8 million in May.Tatler named PLT co-founder Umar its eighth most eligible bachelor for 2019, alongside the Duke of Roxburghe and former One Direction star Harry Styles.His lifestyle is decidedly jet-set, with his contacts book brimming with A-list stars such as Jennifer Lopez, rapper P Diddy and actor Denzel Washington. Such is his self-belief that when he wanted to launch PLT in the US three years ago, he offered a six-figure sum to reality TV star Kylie Jenner, half-sister of Kim Kardashian, to appear in one of his £15 orange dresses.Clive Black, retail analyst at Shore Capital, said the Debenhams deal – and the battle with Asos and the Issa brothers for the Arcadia brands – represented ‘a volcano erupting’ on British high streets.
He said: ‘We are seeing a massive reshaping of Britain’s high streets all at once. The future of the high street is now up for grabs’. On Debenhams’ concessions he added: ‘It remains to be seen how they will mind being associated with a business connected to those kinds of labour processes’. The fast-fashion retailer – owned by Mahmud Kamani (pictured left with Snoop Dogg, Boohoo CEO Carol Kane and his son Samir Kamani in 2018) – was thrust into the spotlight this year following accusations that its suppliers used sweatshop-style conditions in Leicester to produce cheap clothing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The business has now bought Debenhams Mr Kamani, worth £1billion, is also fighting with online rival ASOS, run by Scotland’s richest man Anders Holch Povlsen, left with with Anne and worth £6.1billion and Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who made their £3.56billion from petrol stations, to buy Topshop.
ASOS appears to be in pole position, entering exclusive talks this morning but with no guarantee of a deal, the company said These are the billionaires all vying to grab Topshop from the ashes of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia empire RELATED ARTICLES
Share this article
Share
In a big hint that Boohoo intends to take on the might of Amazon, the business said it would create the UK’s largest marketplace across fashion, beauty, sport and homeware – expanding the range of products sold via Debenhams marketplace by maintaining current third party relationships and expanding further. <div class="art-ins mol-factbox news halfRHS" data-version="2" id="mol-e876ec20-5eed-11eb-91c4-ff6e0aa41620" website boss' playboy son hails father's £55million Debenhams takeover
Sorry, there was no activity found. Please try a different filter.