Mike Ashley's Frasers Group PLC (LSE:FRAS) has increased its investment in German clothing designer Hugo Boss, with its maximum exposure now around £770mln.
The owner of the House of Fraser retail chain now owns roughly 3.4mln shares or 4.9% of Hugo Boss’s total share capital, in addition to ramping up its put options to cover a further 18.3mln shares or 26%.
Shares in the German company closed at a price of €48.39 yesterday.
Fraser Group has been building a stake in Hugo Boss for the past two years, prompting chief executive Mike Ashley to tell the market last May that he did not intend to bid for the design house.
Ashley first took a 0.2% stake in Hugo Boss in June 2020, along with 4.7% of options, and by April this year the investment had grown to a 2.1% holding, with put options covering another 16,3mln, or 23.2%.
Fraser Group said the investment reflects “Frasers Group's belief in the Hugo Boss brand, strategy and management team”.
Only a few years ago in 2018, the ailing retail chain House of Fraser was forced into administration and rescued at the eleventh hour by Ashley's Sports Direct as part of an insolvency deal. Both companies now constitute Frasers Group.
On Monday, the retailer announced it would embark on an up to £35mln share buyback programme of its own shares until publishing its next unaudited trading update on 21 July.