Billionaire retail mogul Philip Day is set to buy struggling clothing chain Bonmarché in a deal valuing the business at just £5.7m. Edinburgh Woollen Mill owner Mr Day has acquired a majority stake in Bonmarché, meaning that under City rules he must make a bid for the whole of the company. He warned he expected…

Esure founder Sir Peter Wood will make more than £360m from selling the insurance group to private equity firm Bain Capital in a £1.2bn deal. Shares in the company, which owns Sheilas’ Wheels and GoCompare, shot up more than 30 per cent after the firm revealed it was in talks with US-based Bain. The unsolicited…

Spotify has bought two podcast firms and plans to spend up to £385m on further acquisitions in an attempt to move beyond its music streaming roots for new growth. The Swedish company has taken over Gimlet, the firm behind a string of popular podcasts including Homecoming, which was adapted into an Amazon TV series starring…

Morgan Motor Company, one of the last remaining British-owned carmakers, is to be bought by an Italian investment firm. The 110-year-old firm, based in Malvern, Worcestershire, said it had sold a majority holding to Italy’s Investindustrial, which owns stakes in a broad range of auto brands, including Aston Martin and the motorbike maker Ducati. It…

Debenhams has dismissed a bid for its Danish stores from Mike Ashley as it confirmed plans to raise £200m in fresh loans in a deal that could wipe out shareholders including his Sports Direct group. Sports Direct said it had offered at least £100m for the Magasin du Nord chain, in an apparent attempt to…

The family behind the River Island clothing chain has taken control of Mint Velvet, the fashion label founded by three former Principles executives, in a deal understood to value the company in excess of £100m. The co-founders Peter Davies, Liz Houghton and Lisa Agar-Rea will share a multimillion-pound payout from the deal with the Lewis…