But Sky added that Elliott is seen as having an advantage in that one of its senior execs in London was “instrumental in Warburg Pincus’s acquisition of a stake in the chain in 2016”.

Elliott has significant fashion exposure already as it owns Bantry Bay, which is a lender to Superdry

Reiss has been tentatively valued at around £500 million based on its expected earnings for this year.

It would be an unusual step for Next to sell a business that’s clearly succeeding. The company has become known more for making acquisitions in recent periods, such as Joules

It has a strong balance sheet and its core focus is retail — unlike private equity firms it isn’t in the business of buying a property, turning it around and selling it for a big profit in order to move on to another investment.

The company acquired a 25% stake in Reiss as recently as 2021, spending £33 million on buying the holding from Warburg Pincus, and acquired a further 26% last summer.

Next chief Simon Wolfson said at the time that it was “an outstanding brand with enormous potential”. One key market is the US where it plans to triple the size of its seven-strong store portfolio. 

That, plus the fact that it’s now fully integrated into Next’s Total

None of the parties concerned have commented.