Sportswear tycoon Mike Ashley smashes tank into Debenhams with plan to sell his sportswear

By NEIL CRAVEN, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY

Updated: 06:47 EST, 19 January 2014

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Sportswear tycoon Mike Ashley will meet Debenhams boss Michael Sharp as early as this week over a plan to flood the department store with the billionaire’s clothing.

The talks come after Ashley’s Sports Direct piled into Debenhams shares last week with trades that one source described as ‘parking a tank’ on Debenhams’ lawn.

Ashley, main shareholder of Sports Direct, and his chief executive Dave Forsey plan to use the stake and Ashley’s ownership of the Slazenger and Donnay brands to push for a major role to supply an enlarged Debenhams sportswear department.

It emerged last week that Sports Direct had secretly acquired a 4.6 per cent stake, worth £46million. It sold the Debenhams shares days later for a profit of £4.5million. But at the time it took out a ‘put option’, a financial instrument to let it buy back the shares in the future at a fixed price.

If Debenhams shares fall further the option could give Ashley a stake of 7 per cent.

It is not the first time Ashley has bought shares to impose his will on executives, but there is no suggestion that he intends to buy the company.