Myer rescues Marcs and David Lawrence

The brands and stocks of Marcs and David Lawrence fashion labels have been bought by Myer, just two months after the two collapsed.

Their parent company, M Webster Holdings, fell in to administration in February owing around $30 million to creditors including owner Malcolm Webster.

The sale includes Marcs' and David Lawrence's existing inventory, brand names and intellectual property, according to the Financial Review.

It does not include lease liabilities and staff obligations.

It is possible Myer will operate a handful of stores to maintain brand profile despite the deal not including the stores or their leases.

Myer deputy chief executive Daniel Bracken told The Australian today that the department store operator felt compelled to enter the process as the administrator was readying to begin a full wind-up process with buyer interest fading.

“Effectively losing these brands would be going against our strategy that we clearly articulated to the market 18 months ago.”

Daniel Bracken said that Myer stepped in after it became clear no buyer could be found and the brands would be wound up.

"These brands are very very successful brands at Myer, both are considered part of our wanted brands strategy and both are highly productive (with high sales per square metre)," Bracken also told the AFR.

"They tick two major boxes," he said.

"We have a good business with these brands and we wanted to find a way to protect this business. It buys us time to find out what is the future of these brands in Myer."

"We need to assess the free standing store channel and the other channels these brands currently operate in," Bracken said.

The brand acquisitions are the first under Myer's 'new' management team led by chief executive Richard Umbers and Daniel Bracken.

Under former chief executive Bernie Brookes Myer outlaid at least ­$70 million between 2009 and 2014 buying brands such as sass and bide, Trent Nathan, Jack & Milly, Innovare and Bauhaus to build a range of private label or exclusive brands.

Meanwhile the London based Malcolm Webster has sold two Sydney residential properties.

One was an 1870s Victorian worker's cottage that he'd owned for 20 years, the other being a pricier Darling Point terrace that he paid $3,365,000 for in 2003.