Mosaic Fashions hf was a holding company listed on the Icelandic stock exchange that owned several fashion brands. At its peak it had over 2,000 stores worldwide, as concessions, franchises and joint venture stores.

History

Oasis

The

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. In April 1998, Oasis purchased the

Coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

stores. In September 2001, the management team of Oasis Stores Plc acquired the company via Sierra Acquisitions Ltd., supported by PPM Ventures. Sierra Acquisitions Ltd. later became a part of Sierra Holdings Ltd. On 16 April 2020, it was announced that both Oasis and

Warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

had fallen into administration. On 30 April 2020, the administrators announced that they had failed to find a buyer for both stores with the loss of 1,800 jobs. The brand was later bought by Boohoo Group (now Debenhams Group).

Mosaic Fashions

In November 2003, Oasis and Coast were acquired from PPM Ventures by a secondary management buyout, supported by

Baugur Group Baugur Group (; Icelandic: ) was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Kingdom. Baugur was ...

hf. and an investor group led by

Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank (, ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic-based operations were ...

hf. Noel Ltd. was established as the takeover vehicle, which in June 2004 was renamed Mosaic Fashions, when it acquired the

Karen Millen Karen Millen is a brand owned by Debenhams Group. The brand specialises in tailoring, Coat (clothing), coats and evening gown, evening wear. It was acquired in 2019 following the collapse of Karen Millen Fashions Ltd, a company that operated a chai ...

and

Whistles A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small sl ...

brands. The company was backed by a series of investors, including

Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson (born 27 January 1968 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic businessman and former CEO of Baugur Group. Early career Jón Ásgeir's parents were Jóhannes Jónsson (1940–2013) and Ása Karen Ásgeirsdóttir (1942-), who bo ...

, Don McCarthy and Kevin Stanford. In 2005, Mosaic Fashions hf. was listed on the OMX Exchanges in Iceland. In 2006, Mosaic Fashions hf. acquired

Rubicon Retail {{Infobox company , name = Rubicon Retail , foundation = 2002 , defunct = 2006 , location_city = London , location_country = United Kingdom , industry = Retail , subsid = Warehouse, P ...

, which included the Warehouse,

Principles A principle may relate to a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of beliefs or behavior or a chain of reasoning. They provide a guide for behavior or evaluation. A principle can make values explicit, so t ...

and Shoe Studio brands. In October 2007, Mosaic Fashions was de-listed from the Nordic Stock Exchange. In December 2007, the eveningwear brand Anoushka G was acquired. In January 2008, its interest in Whistles was disposed of.

Insolvency and Aurora Fashions

Mosaic Fashion entered administration on 2 March 2009. Most of the businesses were immediately sold on to

Aurora Fashions Aurora Fashions was a holding company of several retail fashion brands, formed in 2009 to purchase a number of businesses from the collapsed Mosaic Fashions. The company operated over 1,250 stores in 38 countries, including franchises, under th ...

, a new company jointly owned by Icelandic bank

Kaupthing Kaupthing Bank (, ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic-based operations were ...

- a major Mosaic creditor - and Mosaic's former management. The deal saw Aurora take on the majority of Mosaic's ongoing retail stores including Coast, Warehouse and Oasis. Principles was not included in this deal, and was subsequently purchased separately by department store operator

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain that operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, as well as franchised locations across Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and gr ...

Brands

The group traded under the following brand names: * Anoushka G *

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentOdille *

* Shoe Studio Group *

References

{{reflist Clothing retailers of Iceland Retail companies established in 2003 Retail companies disestablished in 2009