Mike Ashley Now Owns One-Third of Mulberry

Mike Ashley, who owns a retails empire has recently purchased £6 million worth stakes in the luxury handbag maker brand. 

Frasers Group, which runs Sports Direct and House of Fraser, said it has bought 4.3 million shares at 150p each to increase its ownership of the Somerset-based company to 36.8%.

He shares from Icelandic bank, Kaupthing. They also own fashion brands Oasis and Warehouse before they collapsed into administration earlier this year.

Frasers Group first took a stake in Mulberry in February, before it more than doubled its holding to around 29% earlier this month.

Any group which takes a stake worth more than 30% in a business is typically required to make an offer to buy the whole business, according to the Under Takeover Panel rules

However, this didn’t happen with Mulberry as the other group already holds the majority stake in the company. Challice, the investment vehicle for Singapore’s Ong Family, owns around 56% of the business.

But yet, Frasers can yet make an offer to buy Mulberry out completely and must confirm whether it intends to make a takeover bid by December 17, according to new filings to the London Stock Exchange.

Besides Mulberry, Frasers also bought some stocks of the German luxury brand, Hugo Boss. As the brand tries to shift its image to become more upmarket, Grasers Group decided on buying out shares.

Last month, Mulberry revealed that its losses plunged nearly tenfold to £47.9 million in the year to March 31, before feeling the full impact of the pandemic.

In June, Mulberry was forced to cut down its workforce by a quarter as demand for luxury products fell due to the COVID-19 impact.

Shares in Frasers Group were 0.5% higher at 475.4p in early trading, while shares in Mulberry were 0.8% lower at 188p.