That ASOS tale

I have had a fair few calls this morning about this ASOS takeover story that was doing the rounds in the market yesterday and today.

To be honest, I didn't know anything about the rumour until it appeared in Geoff Foster's stock market report. If you didn't see Geoff's piece, here is a link to it: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2735223/MARKET-REPORT-ASOS-shares-fashion.html

The only thing I can add to this tale is about six months ago or so I had it on very good authority that certain bulge bracket bankers were pitching the idea of buying the company outright to Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, who owns Nordic fashion retailer Bestseller.

Apparently, Mr Povlsen wasn't interested in the idea back then and sent the bankers packing, according to one of my sources familiar with the matter. You could probably understand why: ASOS shares were trading above £60.00 a share.

I guess (and this is just me speculating) Povslen - whose Bestseller group owns 28pc of ASOS - might be interested in buying the company now that its shares are currently changing hands at £28.00 but I have no sources that can back that up.

I will leave you to mull on this conundrum with a link to a Forbes profile on Mr Povslen: http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2012/12/13/meet-denmarks-newest-youngest-fashion-billionaire/