Luxury online fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) has edged closer to being absorbed by Richemont after its board of directors gave the green light for the proposed takeover.

The €2.69bn (£2.37bn) takeover offer of YNAP by Swiss luxury group Richemont has now been approved by YNAP board members, less than a week after recieving the green light from the Italian competition authority Consob.

Subsequently, Richemont, which already owns 49 per cent of YNAP and has said that the offer will run from March 19 to May 9.

In January Richemont issued a public tender offer for all the YNAP stock it does not yet own at a rate of €38 (£33.5) per share. This equates to a total valuation for the company of €5.3 billion (£4.64 billion)

The Swiss company already owns brands including Cartier, Dunhill and Montblanc.

Though US based investor Robotti & Co, which owns less than one per cent in YNAP, opposed the proposed deal for not offering a “sufficient valuation”, YNAP’s board has said it considered the price “fair”.

Earlier this month YNAP posted a 16.9 per cent revenue rise to over €2.1 billion (£1.86 billion) for the year to December 31 2017, including a 13.7 per cent rise in the UK to €286.8 million (£257.1 million).

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