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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 25 January 2021 The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the company to constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation ( EU ) No. 596/2014 . Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service , this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain . boohoo group plc ( " boohoo " or " the Group " ) STRATEGIC ACQUISITION TO DEVELOP ONLINE MARKETPLACE " Development of online marketplace and extension of target addressable market " boohoo , a leading online fashion retailer , announces that it has acquired all of the intellectual property assets ( including customer data and related business information and selected contracts ) of Debenhams Retail Limited ( in administration ) ( “ Debenhams ” ) from its joint administrators , for £ 55 million ( plus VAT ) in cash ( the " Transaction " ) . Debenhams is a long - standing and leading UK fashion and beauty retailer with high brand awareness , and an established online platform with approximately 300 million UK website visits per annum . This makes it a top 10 retail website in the UK by traffic . The Transaction represents a fantastic opportunity to grow the Group's target addressable market and increase the share of wallet opportunity through a new capital light and low risk operating model that is complementary to the Group's highly successful direct - to - consumer multi - brand platform . The Group intends to rebuild and relaunch the Debenhams platform , helping further the Group's stated ambition to lead the fashion eCommerce market , and grow into new categories including beauty , sport and homeware through : Marketplace : Creating the UK's largest marketplace across fashion , beauty , sport and homeware . The Group plans to expand the range of products sold via the Debenhams marketplace by maintaining existing marketplace brand relationships and adding new brands over time . The relaunched marketplace will also provide an exciting new route to market for the Group's existing brand portfolio Beauty : The Group will continue to operate the current wholesale model , but will also look to add new beauty brands via the marketplace model Own brand fashion : Debenhams ' own fashion brands will be absorbed into boohoo's current brand portfolio and sold via the core Debenhams site and their own pureplay websites John Lyttle , CEO , commented : " The acquisition of the Debenhams brand is an important development for the Group , as we seek to capture incremental growth opportunities arising from the accelerating shift to online retail . We have developed a successful multi - brand direct - to - consumer platform that continues to disrupt the markets that we operate in . The acquisition represents an exciting strategic opportunity to transform