Retail tycoon Mike Ashley ‘furious’ after being ‘frozen out’ of Debenhams sale
Retail mogul Mike Ashley is reportedly “furious” about being “frozen out” of an auction for collapsed department store Debenhams.
The Sunday Times reported that lawyers for the tycoon have spent the last week complaining to Lazards and law firm Freshfields that Ashley’s Frasers Group had been given “woefully inadequate” information on the sale.
Last week it was reported that Ashley had submitted another bid for the high street chain, which collapsed in April.
Ashley previously owned almost 30 per cent of Debenhams and lost £150m when the chain was taken over by its lenders last year.
The claims come as restructuring firm Hilco prepares to begin placing parts of the company into liquidation.
Sources told the Sunday Times that the company had pulled together a bid to keep running parts of the business.
Ashley’s anger derives from claims that Frasers has received less information about the sale than other interested parties such as JD Sports and the Hut Group.
Having originally bid £100m for Debenhams, Ashley increased his offer to £125m last month.
However, eight days ago Lazards sought confirmation as to whether it would be able to pay £305m for the acquisition.
Ashley has reportedly taken his complaints of unfair treatment to the Financial Conduct Authority, the Pension Protection Fund and former business select committee chair Labour MP Rachel Reeves.
Debenhams said: “We are conducting a fair and thorough process. Information has been provided to parties on the basis of the status of their proposals and subject to the restrictions of competition law.”