Debenhams has snapped up Danish department store Magasin du Nord. But that is only the beginning, and there looks like much more to come.

Debenhams’ decision to buy Danish department store Magasin du Nord signals that there is a lot more to come from the retailer.

The acquisition by Debenhams will add another weapon to the department store’s overseas armoury.

Debenhams chief executive Rob Templemen is on a bid to take the department store’s own-label offering to other department stores and is consistently upping its own-label and Designers At ranges as well.

He has already begun a trial in a number of stores in Dutch retail group Maxeda’s Vroom & Dressman department stores for own brands including Red Herring and Maine New England.

How Debenhams will overlay its offer on to Magasin du Nord remains to be seen, but its success with the integration of Irish department store Roches and its nine stores in Ireland for £20m in 2006, will have given them the confidence to do it and the £323m share placing in June will have given them the wherewithal.

Interestingly, the deal also means that Debenhams has taken a little bit back from collapsed Icelandic investor Baugur.

Baugur acquired a significant stake in Magasin du Nord in 2004 and underwent a project to turn the retailer and its six stores around to measure up to its rival Danish peer Illum.

Baugur later snapped up a small stake in Debenhams, sparking rumours of a possible takeover bid by the Icelandic raider.

However, Debenhams has turned the tables since the investor’s high profile collapse in February when Magasin du Nord became bank owned, and has itself, turned its poor City reputation around to kick off an upward trajectory.

How important the Danish market will be to Debenhams is unclear but it is only a small step towards further expansion overseas.

It could mark the first of a series of acquisitions, with the department store having been linked to Vroom & Dreesman, distressed German department store Kartstadt and others.

There is no doubt that Templeman’s promise to use June’s equity raising to fund “opportunistic acquisitions” as well as pay down its debt pile were not words meant to be taken lightly.

More acquisitions in the UK and overseas could be on the cards for Debenhams.

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