Mike Ashley has put his crusade to conquer the high street on hold after failed bids to buy Debenhams and Goals Soccer Centres, and a disastrous takeover of House of Fraser. The tycoon said he will not step in to rescue any more collapsed retailers as the UK arm of Mothercare fell into administration, putting 2,900 jobs at risk. It calls time on a frantic buying spree launched by Mr Ashley through Sports Direct as he sought to take advantage of the high street crisis to build a retail empire, a campaign which has left him in control of a string of major brands. Mr Ashley said he will do nothing to save Mothercare, whose 79 British stores are now thought likely to shut.
Two major City firms are seen as frontrunners to take over disgraced fund manager Neil Woodford’s third investment fund ahead of a decision on whether to wind it up. BlackRock and Schroders (SDR) are thought to be leading candidates to take charge of the £253m Income Focus Fund following the collapse of Mr Woodford’s empire. Income Focus savers have been blocked from withdrawing cash out of Income Focus by Link Fund Solutions, a company tasked with making sure fund managers follow the rules which took over temporarily after Mr Woodford ducked out. Link is now seeking a company to take over and keep Income Focus operating.
The former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) scandal-hit restructuring arm has suggested it came under pressure from the government to maximise revenues by seizing small companies’ assets instead of helping them stay afloat. In his first public grilling since a bruising appearance in front of MPs five years ago, Derek Sach told a packed courtroom on Tuesday that the Asset Protection Agency (APA), a division of the Treasury, produced “an extra pressure” on his Global Restructuring Group (GRG). He said that after RBS’s £45bn bailout during the financial crisis his division had to follow rules from the APA that “overrode everything except the rule of law”.
Inmarsat (ISAT) $3.4bn (£2.6bn) takeover at the hands of US private equity could face a delay after several prominent shareholders said the business was considerably undervalued. Oaktree Capital Management, owned by billionaire Howard Marks, hit out against the deal on Tuesday, arguing that Inmarsat could be worth significantly more if Ligado recovers its license which would allow it to roll out a 5G network. Inmarsat has an agreement in place to lease spectrum to the US mobile network which relaunched in 2016 after years of bankruptcy protection.
Rugby player turned financier will be among the biggest losers from the collapse of Mothercare (MTC). Richard Griffiths is the largest shareholder in the failing toys and baby clothes chain, with a 19.7% stake owned through his investment firm Ora Capital. Mothercare managed to protect thousands of staff and former workers from pension cutbacks by shifting responsibility for pensions from the UK business to the international operation. The ailing retailer’s international business is profitable and will be unaffected by the administration.
Insurers have been warned to set aside millions of pounds of extra cash by the Bank of England amid fears over a raft of claims from the US opioid crisis. Firms were told to bolster their reserves ahead of an expected $50bn (£38bn) compensation charge for the scandal, in which powerful prescription painkillers are said to have contributed to 400,000 overdose deaths over the past 20 years. Drugmakers landed with vast bills are expected to seek pay-outs from their insurance companies.
