N Brown, the fashion group that owns the Jacamo, Simply Be and JD Williams brands, is set to be taken off the stock market through a £191 million takeover from the son of its long standing former chairman Lord Alliance.

A company owned by entrepreneur Joshua Alliance, who is also a non-executive director in the the Manchester based group, has offered 40p a share in cash compared with last night’ closing price of of 27p.

The Alliance family already own around 60% of N Brown’s shares meaning that the takeover, which is recommended by the board, is almoast certain to go through.

In a statement Joshua Alliannce’s bid vehicle said the offer was being made because “in light of N Brown’s current shareholder structure and very low trading liquidity, and the limited UK fund manager appetite for small cap consumer stocks, N Brown is not benefitting from being listed on the AIM market, whilst having to bear significant costs associated with its listing.”

It added: “Furthermore, Bidco believes that the Acquisition presents an opportunity to acquire a portfolio of well-established fashion brands, supported by an innovative financial services platform that is currently under development, with a long history and heritage in the UK clothing and footwear market.”

N Brown is best known for its Jacamo brand, which caters for men aged between 25 and 45 including those needing larger sizes up to 5XL, and previously had former England cricket captain Freddie Flintoff as its brand ambassador.

Iranian born David Alliance, 92, was a high profile business figure in the Seventies and Eighties, building the Coats Viyella textiles group into a global giant. He joined the board of N Brown in 1968 and served until 2012. He was made Lord Alliance of Manchester in 2004.

Joshua Alliance began working for N Brown in 2014 and joined the board in 2020.