UK online fashion retailer Farfetch snaps up London's Browns

Paris

FARFETCH, the online fashion retailer valued at US$1 billion after a financing round earlier this year, has snapped up London's upmarket retailer Browns for an undisclosed sum in a cash and shares deal.

Pressure is mounting on Internet retailers, brands and bricks-and-mortar boutiques to forge alliances after Yoox agreed to buy Richemont's Net-a-Porter in an all-share deal to create an industry leader with combined sales of 1.3 billion euros (S$1.93 billion).