Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct to buy Patisserie Valerie cakes to UK retail empire.

The Carlyle Group and Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has offered to buy cafe chain owner Patisserie Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sports Direct has dropped offer, because of small level of transparency in talks. It has more recently bought stakes in, or assets from, British retail businesses that have struggled to cope with challenges ranging from the rise of internet shopping to higher business property taxes and sluggish consumer spending. These businesses have included department store groups Debenhams and House of Fraser, home furnishings firm Sofa.com, Evans Cycles and Lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. Patisserie Holdings ran around 200 outlets, employing about 2.5k people, and had a stock market value approaching £500m ($646m) before it ran into trouble.