Ashley seizes on Odey disaster to snap up £75m AO stake

The crisis-hit hedge fund Odey Asset Management has offloaded its stake in AO, the London-listed electrical items retailer, suggesting that it could be unable to stall a fire-sale of property amid a wave of sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to its founder.

Sky News has learnt that the agency arrange by Crispin Odey was the vendor of almost 19% of AO to Frasers Group, the excessive avenue retailer based by the billionaire tycoon Mike Ashley.

The transaction value Mr Ashley’s Frasers Group £75m, it stated in a press release on Friday night time.

Odey Asset Management’s identification as the vendor was confirmed by different shareholders.

One insider stated that Odey had been a supportive investor in AO since its inventory market debut in London in 2014, and had elevated its holding as a part of a capital-raise final 12 months.

It is believed to have offloaded its whole stake, held in a fund managed by James Hanbury, one in every of its senior portfolio managers, to Frasers.

This weekend, it was unclear whether or not Mr Hanbury was within the strategy of liquidating different positions.

A spokesman for Odey declined to touch upon the problem or on the extent of consumer redemptions the agency was experiencing.

The disaster has been triggered by a torrent of sexual abuse and harassment allegations made within the Financial Times in opposition to its eponymous founder.

The claims, which Mr Odey informed the newspaper he disputed, have prompted a variety of funding banks which provide so-called prime broking companies to his agency to sever ties with it.

The Financial Conduct Authority can also be stated to have broadened an current investigation into the hedge fund.

In a press release this week, Odey Asset Management stated it “cannot comment in detail on the various allegations which are being looked into by our lawyers”.

“OAM has robust policies and procedures in place to ensure that the firm at all times complies with all of its legal and regulatory obligations.

“Staff wellbeing is central to the tradition of OAM’s enterprise.

“We do not recognise the picture of the firm that has been painted by the Financial Times.”

It added that it was “in active discussions with all service providers and we are confident that our service providers will continue to work with us to ensure that the interests of investors are protected”.

For Mr Ashley, the swoop on AO represents the form of opportunistic commerce for which he has turn into famend.

The former Newcastle United FC proprietor has lengthy coveted a stake within the enterprise, and his son-in-law, Michael Murray, who now runs Frasers, stated in a press release: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to form a supportive, strategic partnership”.

“AO is a fantastic business with a clear strategy which is leading the market in online-only electricals.”

The buy of its AO stake provides the corporate to a listing of minority holdings for Frasers which incorporates ASOS, the struggling on-line trend retailer, and Mulberry, the posh purse retailer.

Either Liberum and Numis, Frasers’ brokers, are more likely to have been concerned in executing the commerce on behalf of Mr Ashley’s firm.

AO and Frasers each declined to remark.