
The ongoing battle between Frasers Group and Boohoo Group has taken a turn as Mike Ashley’s group accused the fashion giant of making undisclosed payments to Umar Kamani, the son of Boohoo’s co-founder and executive vice chair, Mahmud Kamani.
In its most recent open letter to Boohoo shareholders, the Sports Direct owner, which holds a 28.1% stake in Boohoo Group, alleged that Umar Kamani is receiving £2m annually for providing “consultancy services” to Boohoo subsidiary PrettyLittleThing.
The letter said: “Despite repeated requests from Frasers that the details of this consultancy arrangement be disclosed and notwithstanding the significance of the alleged amounts and apparent conflict of interest concerns, including in relation to Umar Kamani’s position as a related party to Boohoo and PLT, no details have been provided to Boohoo shareholders.”
Mike Ashley’s group has further pressed Boohoo to urgently provide full details of Umar Kamani’s role and remuneration.
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The row comes after Frasers suffered two defeats in its attempts to influence Boohoo’s governance.
On Tuesday (21 January), Boohoo shareholders ‘overwhelmingly rejected’ Frasers’ proposal to remove Mahmud Kamani from his board position, with 63.17% of votes cast against the motion.
This follows previous shareholder resistance to Frasers’ attempts to reshape Boohoo’s leadership, including its failed bid to install Mike Ashley and Mike Lennon to Boohoo’s board.
Frasers, which has consistently questioned Boohoo’s governance practices, also claimed that other shareholders had previously raised similar concerns regarding Umar Kamani’s position at PLT, but no responses had been forthcoming.
“Frasers is aware that other shareholders of Boohoo have previously asked Boohoo questions relating to Umar Kamani’s position at PLT and no responses from Boohoo have been forthcoming,” the letter added.
The dispute between the two companies has intensified since October, when Boohoo’s CEO John Lyttle abruptly left following a series of lacklustre results. Frasers has continued to call for leadership changes, with Ashley seeking a role on Boohoo’s board.
While the Debenhams owner has not commented on the latest allegations, the company has repeatedly rejected Frasers’ attempts to interfere in its governance, with the group’s new CEO, Dan Finley, and independent chair, Tim Morris, both urging shareholders to support the existing leadership.
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