Ashley seeks support for legal action, fight against Debenhams CVA goes on

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 20, 2019

Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley is continuing his fight to overturn the two Debenhams CVAs and is considering launching legal action against the UK Department stores giant and its turnaround plan.

Newspaper reports said that Sports Direct is currently talking to landlords and others about the chances of taking court action, despite the CVAs having been approved by at least 95% of its creditors earlier this month. The company had needed 75% of creditors to vote in its favour.

Ashley continues to smart after seeing the almost 30% stake he had built up in Debenhams, which cost his company hundreds of millions of pounds, being completely wiped out when Debenhams plc went into administration before the trading company was sold to a consortium made up of its lenders.

Ashley had earlier put forward a number of financing proposals, which included him being installed as chief executive, but none of these were accepted.

Any creditor wishing to mount a legal challenge has until June 6 six to do so, but it's unclear how much support Ashley would have given the level of votes in favour of the CVAs.

The Times said a source close to Sports Direct “confirmed that it is talking to a number of third parties including landlords with a view to making a joint challenge,” adding that the CVA votes were very far from “a fair, open and honest process.”