Luxury fashion brand Mulberry has rejected a bid from Mike Ashley to join its board of directors, as the former Frasers chief executive continues to hoover up stakes in various retailers.
Frasers Group owns a 26.8% stake in the business which is ultimately controlled by Malaysian billionaire Ong Ben Seng and his wife. However, over recent weeks, the Sports Direct founder has met with Mulberry’s executive team to get a voice in the boardroom, according to The Times.
Ashley has reportedly grown frustrated with what he believes is a lack of transparency about the poor performance of Mulberry’s Asian business.
In 2017, Mulberry partnered with Ong’s Singaporean company Challice in a joint venture to expand the brand in East Asia. Ashley is looking for more information about how this joint venture works and whether Mulberry rents its property from Challice and how the Ongs ultimately benefit from the arrangement.
“We have a constructive dialogue with all our shareholders and we do not provide public commentary on the details of these conversations,” a Mulberry spokesman said.
Chief executive Thierry Andretta dismissed Ashley’s attempts to gain a seat on the board.
He said while Ashley is “an important shareholder, a successful businessman… we don’t consider he has the expertise that we need to grow the company”.
No comments yet