The board of luxury handbag maker Mulberry Group has rejected the offer by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group to buy out the whole company at a valuation of £111 million overall.

“The Board is unanimously of the view that the Possible Offer is untenable and that the Company should focus its attention on driving the commercial performance of the business,” Mulberry said in a statement.

Challice Limited, the investment vehicle of Singapore-based billionaire Ong Beng Seng which owns 56.4% of Mulberry’s shares, said earlier this month it had no interest in selling its Mulberry shares to Frasers.

“We believe that the combination of the appointment of a new CEO, our new debt facility and the capital raising announced today will put the Group on a firm footing to ensure we are well set up for future growth,” Mulberry said.

“The Board acknowledges that Frasers, through its participation in the Company’s recent fundraising, has shown itself to be supportive of maintaining the value of the Mulberry brand. The Board appreciates this and looks forward to further interactions with Frasers in the future.”

Mulberry declined to comment on Frasers’ statement last week that it was seeking to engage with Challice directly.

Under City rules, Frasers has until 5pm on Monday to make a firm offer for Mulberry or walk away.