Frasers Group Sets Sights on US Market with The Webster Takeover

Frasers adds one more group to its brand portfolio. The British conglomerate has purchased a majority stake in luxury multi-brand The Webster, without disclosing financial details. Under the terms of the deal, The Webster’s founder and CEO Laure Hériard Dubreuil will retain a “significant” stake in the company, which she will continue to manage.

The British group is thus continuing its commitment to the U.S. market. The company’s business is driven by the Sports Direct sports equipment distribution chain, although it also operates House of Fraser, Flannels, Evans Cycles, Frasers and Game, as well as brands such as Slazenger and Jack Wills.

The Webster, founded by Laure Hériard Dubreuil, will continue to operate as an independent business within the luxury Flannels division of Frasers Group, while beginning a phase of expansion and strengthening of its digital platforms, as reported by WWD.

The U.S. company adds thirteen physical outlets across North America, with recent openings in Atlanta, Austin and Las Vegas, as well as a flagship store in New York, which has been located in the Soho neighborhood since 2017 and boasts more than 1,000 square meters. The portfolio of brands distributed by the company consists of more than one hundred luxury brands such as Alaïa, Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Dior, Ferragamo, Gucci, Loewe, Miu Miu, Pucci, Rick Owens, Saint Laurent and The Row.

Frasers closed fiscal year 2024 with declining results

The Webster was founded in 2008 in Miami by Hériard Dubreuil with two business partners, Frederic Dechnik, formerly of Gucci, and Milan Vukmirovic, founder of Colette. Since 2013, the company has been managed solely by the entrepreneur.

Its flagship store in Miami arrived a year after its birth, with 2,000 square feet, the store is located at 1,220 Collins Avenue in South Beach, in Miami, in an art deco building formerly run by the Webster hotel. After the departure of his partners from the company, Hériard Dubreuil kept the name and transformed the store into a multi-brand store designed to look like a house, where the brands were mixed together as in a conventional closet.

Frasers, for its part, enters into this business arrangement after ending its 2024 fiscal year down in both revenue and consolidated earnings. It posted a turnover of 4.75 billion pounds ($6.36 billion) through retail.