Ted Baker Founder Tries To Privatize The Brand Due To The Sexual Harassment Scandal

Ray Kelvin, founder of Ted Baker PLC (Ted. L), who stepped down in March because of a sexual harassment scandal, is set to return to the British fashion retailer's ambitions.

Ray Kelvin, 63, plans to join hands with private equity to privatize Ted Baker PLC, the Daily Mail quoted market sources over the weekend. The group's shares rose 17.2% to 982.5p on Monday, raising its market value to 423.8m. At that time, the group's acquisition of 29% on the same day triggered speculation.

Ray Kelvin still holds 34.9% of the group's shares and it is understood that he plans to retain the existing management after the acquisition. Ray Kelvin, who has been CEO since the establishment of the Ted Baker brand in 1988, resigned three months ago "in the best interests of the company". In mid April, the board of directors decided to consolidate Lindsay page, acting CEO, former chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the group for 22 years.

In December last year, more than 300 Ted Baker PLC employees launched a joint petition on the Internet asking ray Kelvin to stop inappropriate actions in the office, such as forced cuddling, ear kissing, thigh sitting, massage and touching. Some employees reported that he would even publicly demand sex.

Ray Kelvin and Philip Green, the boss of Topshop, denied sexual harassment in the workplace. The difference is that as a listed company, Ted Baker PLC launched an independent investigation into ray Kelvin after the petition was reported by the guardian, but the results of the investigation have not been made public.

Although the profit of the last fiscal year has declined for the first time since 2008, it has recently released a profit warning. In the past few years, Ted Baker PLC's revenue and profits have continued to achieve double-digit strong growth against the background of the high streets in Britain. The market thinks that this is all due to ray Kelvin, who has a weird style.

A retail source told the daily mail that private equity funds and investment consortia believe that in the final analysis, Ted Baker and ray Kelvin are inseparable, and they will find ways to let ray Kelvin play a certain role, but this can only be achieved by the delisting of Ted Baker PLC. The group landed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997.

In fact, there is a classic example of a founder returning to power this year. Julian dunkerton, co-founder of super dry PLC (sdry. L), a casual clothing retailer, fought off all management in April and regained control after leaving the CEO and the board for a year.

Ted Baker PLC (Ted. L) closed at 951p on Monday, up 13.5% for the day, narrowing the huge drop in the stock recorded in the past year due to two consecutive earnings warnings to 58.3%.

Management said last month that the business environment has been "extremely difficult" since the financial year that began in January, so it is expected that the adjusted pre tax profit for the whole year will be only 50-60 million pounds, far less than the market expected of 70.9 million pounds, and the same store sales in the first 19 weeks to June 8 decreased by 2.9% year-on-year. At present, the group has about 560 stores and counters around the world.