Burberry Must Be Bursting With Happiness Right About Now

Growing-up, Burberry for me was one of the first stepping stones into the world of fashion. At the tender age of about 12 years old, I became enthralled with the iconic plaid print and it's effect it took on me. I vowed and was pretty much insistent that one day i'd become a proud owner of my first Burberry tie along with a matching umbrella. Ten years later and hundreds of visits to burberry stores across the country and even some out of state, I have donned several Burberry pieces with much pride and having a whole lotta fun while doing so.

But now comes word that after several years of attempting to take back its plaid from British chav culture, CEO Angela Ahrendts and creative director Christopher Bailey have transformed Burberry into a label that is universal. Also, it's one of the only few independent luxury brands that still exist around the planet. And lets not forget one important tid-bit, it also one of the most successful brands.

Now, everyone wants in it seems. Sources close to Reuters reports that an unknown bidder wants to purchase the brand for practically $10 billion dollars! At the moment, Burberry's face value in the stocks is around $8 billion dollars.

Until the truth shines out, fashionista has thought up of a few possible contenders in this bid...

"LVMH or PPR? Probably not. Burberry is expensive, and while there’s always room for growth, there’s not that much room to make it worthwhile for one of the big conglomerates. Richemont? Possibly. Richemont is different because its weakness is soft luxury–aka handbags, shoes, and clothing. Burberry would finally put the Swiss conglomerate on par with PPR and LVMH.

Private equity firm? Doesn’t make sense. Burberry is too mature. They’re not going to be able to flip it for $20 billion. At least not at any time soon.
Chinese billionaire looking for a trophy brand? This seems to be the most likely answer. “The only bidder I can see paying this kind of multiple is a Chinese (company) looking for a trophy asset,” said one trader to Reuters.
Regardless of whether or not anything actually happens, this speculation has been very good for Burberry’s stock. Shares have already risen by more than 4% today.

The Burberry Prorsum Spring/Summer 2011 Menswear show presented in Milan.



The Burberry Prorsum Womenswear Spring/Summer 2011 show previewed in London.