Boohoo has offered its largest shareholder Frasers Group a seat on its board – but not for the retail tycoon Mike Ashley, Frasers’ founder. The fast fashion retailer said on Friday that it was willing to have “constructive” talks about Frasers joining its board. But it said current nominees Mr Ashley and Mike Lennon, a restructuring expert, would have “irreconcilable conflicts of interest”.
The fast fashion retailer has been subject to a campaign by Frasers’ boss Mr Ashley to get himself installed as chief executive at Boohoo in recent months. That was cut short when Boohoo appointed Dan Finley, former boss at Debenhams, which it owns, in November. Mr Ashley then reverted to trying to get a board seat instead, which Boohoo has also resisted.
Frasers claimed in a letter on Thursday that Boohoo’s opposition to Mr Ashley and Mr Lennon joining the board is because of fears they would “dilute” the influence of co-founder Mahmud Kamani. The retail conglomerate has also said it is trying to protect minority shareholders from a potential plan by Boohoo bosses to break the company up as part of a turnaround effort. Frasers has a 27% stake in Boohoo and has forced an emergency shareholder meeting to vote on the matter on December 20.
In a Friday morning statement, Boohoo said the letter indicated that Frasers was taking a “selective approach” to shareholder protection. “When it comes to protecting minority shareholders, Frasers will decide which commitments it.
