N Brown buys Figleaves lingerie firm for £11.5m

The home shopping group N Brown has acquired the online lingerie specialist Figleaves for £11.5m to reinforce its market-leading position selling underwear on the internet.

Figleaves, which is backed by Balderton Capital, put itself up for sale in February, although it had been seeking a much higher price than N Brown has paid, according to reports.

Alan White, the chief executive of N Brown, which targets plus-size shoppers, said: "It demonstrates our commitment to continue to expand the e-commerce proportion of our business and to extend our product offers and customer base."

Figleaves is forecast to deliver sales of £23m for the year to June 2010. The lingerie retailer, which has more than 1.2 million customers, offers more than 100 brands.