Boohoo secures US court approval to takeover Nasty Gal for $20m

Online fashion retailer Boohoo has won court approval to go ahead with its takeover of bankrupt US rival Nasty Gal for $20m (£16m).

The Manchester-based firm said it received clearance from the US Bankruptcy Court to take control of the intellectual property assets and databases of Nasty Gal, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.

Boohoo, founded five years ago, says it expects to complete the acquisition on 28 February.

The moves comes after Boohoo spent £3.3m in December to secure a 66% stake in UK online fashion rival PrettyLittleThing, set up by the children of Boohoo's co-founder Mahmud Kamani.

Los Angeles-based Nasty Gal was founded as a vintage eBay shop by Sophia Amoruso in 2006 and went on to raise more than $60m from investors to transform itself into an international site selling a range of brands and its own-label young fashion as well as vintage finds.

Nasty Gal made a net loss of $21m on revenues of $77.1m in the year to 1 February 2016. However, this figure includes sales of vintage clothing and third-party brands, which are excluded from the Boohoo deal.

In a joint statement in December Boohoo joint chief executives Kamani and Carol Lane said: "Should we be successful in acquiring Nasty Gal it would represent a fantastic opportunity to add such a well-established, global brand to the Boohoo family.

"Following our recent acquisition of PrettyLittleThing.com we believe this would represent an ideal next step in inspiring an ever-growing range of young customers internationally."