London

Matchesfashion.com, the British luxury e-commerce group that began life as a single bricks-and-mortar boutique before growing into one of the most powerful online players in the global high-fashion market, has a new majority shareholder after a fierce bidding war.

The company said on Friday that the private equity firm Apax Partners would take a controlling stake in the business, which the married couple Tom and Ruth Chapman founded in 1987. The Chapmans and the venture capital firms Scottish Equity Partners and Highland Europe will retain minority stakes, the company said in a statement.