Fast Retailing, the Japanese owner of high street clothing retailer Uniqlo, is offering $900m (£450m) for the upmarket US retail chain Barneys New York, topping a bid from Istithmar, a Dubai private equity firm. The Times. The Telegraph. Financial Times

Jones Apparel Group, Barneys’ parent company, said that it received the unsolicited offer from the Japan-based company two weeks after agreeing to sell Barneys for $825m to Istithmar.

Under its agreement with Istithmar, Barneys owner Jones Apparel is free to talk to other suitors until the middle of August, but must pay a break fee of at least $20m if it accepts a higher offer.

The US company said it would enter talks with Fast Retailing and that if the deal with Istithmar is broken off after 22 July, it would be required to pay a termination fee of up to $22.7m.