// Mike Ashley has requested a voice in Mulberry’s boardroom amid concerns surrounding the luxury retailer’s Asian business
// Ashley’s Frasers Group owns a 37% stake in the brand
Retail tycoon Mike Ashley is launching an attack on the board of Mulberry, which could set him against its majority owners in a boardroom battle of billionaires.
Ashley’s Frasers Group owns 37% of the luxury handbag retailer’s listed shares, while Singapore-based billionaire hotelier Ong Ben Seng and his wife Christina own a majority 56% stake.
The Sports Direct founder met Mulberry chairman Chris Roberts and chief executive Thierry Andretta in recent weeks to request a place in the boardroom, The Telegraph reported.
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The call comes as Frasers has grown frustrated about what it believes is a lack of transparency around the retailer’s poor performing Asian business.
In 2017, Mulberry partnered with the Ong’s Singapore company, Challice, in a joint venture to expand the luxury brand in the Far East. Challice carries a 40% stake the venture.
However, Ashley is understood to be seeking more information about how the arrangements operate and whether it rents property from Challice and how the Ongs benefit from the deal.
The request has not yet been granted or turned down.
“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.
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