The British online clothing vendor Asos is in talks to buy the British Topshop clothing brand and a number of other brands. The fashion company confirms the reports that it is the leader in purchasing, inter alia, Topshop of the distressed fashion group and parent company Arcadia.

Asos would have to pay more than GBP 250 million to the brands. The talks are also about the brands Topman and Miss Selfridge.

The British department store chain Debenhams, also owned by parent company Arcadia, is owned by Online Shop Boohoo. It only wants the brand and has no interest in the physical stores, the curator said. The permanent closure means that about 12,000 employees of the 232-year-old chain of shops lose their jobs.

Most of Arcadia’s over 500 stores were closed for quite some time last year due to the quarantine in England. This contributed to the company’s problems and eventually cost it its head.