According to reports, Frasers Group’s attempts to get its founder Mike Ashley a place on the board of the upscale leather goods company Mulberry have failed because Mulberry’s CEO says Ashley lacks the necessary experience.
Ashley’s Frasers Group owns 36.8 per cent of the company, but Ong Beng Seng and his wife, Christina, who own more than 56 per cent of it, still have ultimate control over it.
The founder of Sports Direct is rumoured to have met with Mulberry’s management team in recent weeks in an effort to gain a voice in the boardroom as he grows impatient with the alleged “lack of transparency” around the retailer’s underwhelming Asian division.
In order to grow the luxury brand in the Far East, Mulberry established a joint venture with the Ong family’s Singapore company, Challice. Challice owns a 40 per cent share in the business.
However, it’s said that Ashley is currently looking for further information about how the agreements work, if it rents property from Challice, and how the Ongs profit 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 spokesman for Mulberry said.
Chief executive Thierry Andretta dismissed Ashley’s attempts to gain a seat on the board. He said that while Ashley is “an important shareholder, a successful businessman, we don’t consider he has the expertise that we need to grow the company”.
