Mike Ashley has snapped up a 5 per cent stake in the beleaguered five-a-side football business Goals Soccer Centres through Sports Direct in his latest raid on another listed company.
Managers from the two businesses have not met previously and it is understood that Goals was made aware of the deal only on Friday night.
Both sides are expected to meet later this year but Sports Direct was remaining tight lipped about its intentions, although a quick sale could see the company make a fast profit. The shares closed 11.5 per cent higher at 145p on Monday night.
Mr Ashley previously bought a stake in Debenhams, using it as leverage to negotiate for Sports Direct concessions in eight of the chain’s department stores.
A similar stake in House of Fraser is now being used to push for a Lillywhites concession, and an investment in Tesco was used to create a working relationship with the supermarket group.
Goals has suffered three profits warnings this year, with the latest just a week ago, as better weather failed to improve bookings for its football pitches across the UK.
Mr Ashley’s investments, made through Sports Direct or his holding company Mash, often appear straightforward on the surface but involve highly sophisticated instruments traditionally the preserve of investment bank proprietary trading desks.
He struck a deal with the Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs earlier this year for a so-called put option on Debenhams, essentially a high-stakes bet between the two parties over Debenhams’ future share price.
The deal – which followed another bet with Goldman a year earlier – gave Mr Ashley exposure to a 16.6 per stake in the business with an outlay of just £85m up front.
He made a similar bet with Goldman Sachs over the value of Tesco shares.
Both bets involve Mr Ashley benefiting if shares in the company rise beyond a certain level. If they are below that level, he has to pay out.
Mr Ashley, who has been criticised for turning Sports Direct into an investment vehicle rather than a sportswear retailer, has previously bought into companies to make a quick profit, most notably in 2007 when he made £29m on Adidas shares in just eight weeks.
Some trades have failed, however. He was left holding an 11 per cent stake in House of Fraser, while the remaining 89 per cent was sold to the Chinese investor Sanpower.
