Overview

Michael James Wallace Ashley, founder and deputy chairman of Britain’s biggest sporting goods retailer, has sold 25 million shares, representing a 4.18% stake in the company.

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It is the first share sale since Sports Direct International Plc was floated in 2007.

Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United football club, disposed of 25 million shares, cutting his shareholding from 68.6% to 64.4%.

The shares were sold on February 25, 2013, at a price of £4 ($6) per share, for gross proceeds of approximately £100 million ($151,6 million).

The company, wholly-owned by Mr Ashley, did not offer a reason for the move.

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Few days before the transaction, the sports group reported sales had risen by 21% to £590m between 29 October 2012 and 20 February 2013.

Sports Direct’s, which has 400 UK stores, also include Firetrap, Dunlop and Slazenger.

 

Mr. Michael James Wallace Ashley
– Known as: Mike Ashley
– Gender: Male
– Age: 52
– Date of birth/Year: 1960
– Citizenship: Nationality | United Kingdom; Domicile| United Kingdom
– Home Town: Hertfordshire
– Languages: English

 

Liquidity events

– 25 February 2013: sale of 25 million shares in Sports Direct International Plc for $151,6 m
– 2007: IPO for Sports Direct International Plc, Ashley reduces his ownership to 70%

 

Profile

Mr. Michael James Wallace Ashley, better known as Mike, was born in 1960 in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom and was educated at Burnham Grammar School. Michael married Linda Ashley in 1988, but the couple divorced in 2003. The couple have three children, Matilda, Anna and Oliver.

Michael left school in 1982 and started his career as a county level squash player and eventually became a county-level squash coach after an injury. He set up the Sports Direct International Plc, originally called Sports Soccer, in the 1980s. Initially, he was the sole owner of the business, but the company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2007 and presently he owns 71% of the FTSE 250 companies.

Ashley started his first Sport and Ski shop in Maidenhead, followed by others in and around London. Presently the Sports Direct International Plc., has over 400 stores in United Kingdom.

Ashley also concentrated on buying various brands: In 2003, he bought the Dunlop Slazenger brand for £40 million and acquired the outdoor gear manufacturer Karrimor. Ashley also owns a 29.4% stake in Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd. In 2007, he became the owner of Newcastle United Football Club after paying around £135 million.

Michael resides in a large house on the border of a Hertfordshire village and makes few public appearances and avoids media.

 

Further Detail

For more detailed profile of Mike Ashley see WealthInsight’s dossier:

http://www.wealthinsight.com/Dossiers/Summary/34210