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His world class team are welcome to do their stuff as part of Aviva’s integration team. But what is the point of hanging on for years waiting for Winslow to reach 300p plus? The fact is that the synergies and scope for cost reduction under Aviva are likely to generate more value than DLG as a stand alone.

The icing on the cake would be a competitive bid, but failing that I’ll drop my drawers for an offer north of 270p.

Good luck BlackFox, I can understand your rationale, but I’m going to ride this out into 2025. I still believe a turnaround is possible, and the major competitor may well find itself on the back foot in 2025. Failing that I expect M&A activity in some shape or form.

Frasers only know what we all know, they are not in the company looking at the details underlying the poor performance. No CEO comes into a business with a full plan on day one. They spend some time trying to understand what is going wrong, and what they need to do to fix it. Then they outline a plan.

The Board have been talking about turnarounds and “boom time” for two years now, and all we have seen is value destruction and self interested “incentive” packages. They have failed shareholders miserably, time for change.

So, is Kamani the shareholder’s friend?

When he constantly reinvents generous bonus and incentive packages is he thinking about shareholders?

I think we all know the answer to that question, don’t we?

270p and above and I'm a seller. I'll take the bird in the hand, and I'm happy to hold Aviva shares. They can achieve more with DLG than as a stand alone.

PART TWO

Boohoo has also been involved in a dispute with shareholder Frasers Group. Frasers has been attempting to install its founder, the retail tycoon Mike Ashley, as chief executive of Boohoo, having accused the board of having “lost its ability to manage” the online fashion company. It is also calling for Boohoo to appoint a restructuring expert, Mike Lennon, as a director.

Frasers Group claimed that Boohoo had “rushed out a chief executive appointment to try to block the say of shareholders”. It asked the board in an open letter to “stop, once and for all, its utter disregard for shareholder views”.

Mahmud Kamani was removed from his role as chairman and was made executive vice-chair last week after Frasers Group expressed concerns over his leadership. The company appointed Tim Morris as independent chairman.

Boohoo said that Finley had identified £30 million of annualised cost savings and “non-core” assets to sell in “due course”, appointed a new independent chairman and helped to raise £40 million to strengthen the balance sheet.

PART ONE

Billionaire family behind Boohoo places £15m in fundraising drive

Mahmud Kamani, who co-founded the fast-fashion retailer, leads way with £5.12 million investment as it attempts to revive its fortunes

Isabella Fish, Retail Editor

Friday November 29 2024, 5.30pm, The Times

Retail

The billionaire family behind Boohoo invested £15.35 million as part of a near £40 million fundraising to help turn around the struggling fast-fashion giant.

Mahmud Kamani, who co-founded Boohoo in 2006 and is its second-largest shareholder, invested £5.12 million in the company’s latest fundraising drive this month in a show of confidence in the retailer’s future prospects and its new chief executive’s turnaround plan.

Kamani’s sister Rabia Kamani, a minority shareholder, invested £1 million as part of the fundraising while his son Samir Kamani, chief executive of BoohooMan, put in £6.21 million.

His other son Umar Kamani, co-founder of PrettyLittleThing, invested £3 million.

The Manchester-based business, which has appointed Dan Finley as chief executive, raised a total of £39.3 million through a combination of a placing, subscription and retail offer.

The retail offer, which aimed to reach £6 million, raised £400,000.

Separately, it was announced on Friday that Carol Kane, Boohoo’s other co-founder, had purchased 294,350 ordinary shares at 33.88p each. This increases her beneficial interest to about 1.45 per cent of the company’s issued share capital.

Rabia Kamani said: “I invested because of Dan’s track record and his clear plans for Boohoo. He was a winner at JD Sports and has been brilliant for Debenhams. The plans he has set out since becoming group chief executive and the speed with which he has acted on them has been very impressive.”

Finley, who had served as Debenhams’ chief executive since 2022 and was previously multichannel director of JD Sports for ten years, was appointed chief executive this month.

Boohoo announced the surprise departure of its former boss John Lyttle in October, alongside a £222 million debt refinancing and a strategic review of options “to unlock and maximise shareholder value”. Its announcement raised the prospect of a break-up of the mini retail empire, whose collection also spans PrettyLittleThing, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Warehouse and Wallis.

Boohoo has also been involved in a dispute with shareholder Frasers Group. Frasers has been attempting to install its founder, the retail tycoon Mike Ashley, as chief executive of Boohoo, having accused the board of having “lost its ability to manage” the online fashion company. It is also calling for Boohoo to appoint a restructuring expert, Mike Lenno

I will post it this morning. Look out for it.

Why would Ageas come back at a higher price?

First, there share price is up 21% so their paper offer plus cash takes you to 257p a share.

Second, the hard work in generating cost savings is already underway, so they would benefit from being further down the road.

Third, they are serious about building market share in the UK, and acquisition opportunities that change the game are hard to come by.

Fourth, Winslow left Aviva and poached senior staff. He might be more welcomed at Ageas.

I just read that Goldman Sachs, who helped DLG defend against Ageas, are now working for Aviva. They have a “clean team” in place, so different people. Given the “Vampire Squid’s” reputation I would bet the “dirty team” are advising on the weak points for DLG. They know exactly what will get this over the line and which institutions will fold at the right price.

First time I’ve seen that in a long time. I wonder if it is a turnaround sign or simply due to the upcoming EGM vote?

I’m not sure how the voting system works. Are the Board able to see the voting over the month as the votes trickle in?

I think Aviva has to be careful with solvency ratios, so any higher bid would involve more shares, rather than cash.

A bit puzzled by the move northwards in the SP, perhaps someone knows something, Boohoo is a leaky ship?

Another explanation is just the general mood in the UK markets. With a strong $ the UK market is historically cheap and Boohoo has to some extent put up the "for sale" sign. So it may be a few speculators getting in on the hope of some M&A activity?

I've always believed that Boohoo is a natural target for Shein, who float early in the new year. Let's see.

The Ageas bid earlier in the year was a bit opportunistic given that a new "star" CEO was soon to join the company, and a little unattractive to institutional investors and retail investors that don't want to hold a stock listed in Belgium. Added to the uninspiring second offer there was no great surprise that the Board successfully rejected the bid.

This time is different. The "star" CEO has made moves in the right direction but has hardly got off to a flying start. Aviva is a UK listed company, with a respected management team, with similar shareholders. The synergies and cost cutting that shareholders would benefit from are greater with the combined group than with DLG as a standalone. So Aviva are more likely to get the nod from the institutions. They just have to make the second offer one that cannot be credibly refused. I think they have done their homework, and DLG will be absorbed within Aviva.

I think the cost savings and synergies under Aviva will be far higher than under DLG as a stand-alone entity. Winslow has already started that process but greater cost savings are achievable if part of Aviva. It looks like a well considered move.

Anybody that thinks a CEO makes a bid for a company only to walk away hasn’t really studied the takeover playbook. They’ve made the initial bid. They will now be lobbying institutions, many of whom are also Aviva shareholders, and they will make an offer that DLG will not be able to credibly reject. I think it is game over for DLG - I don’t think Winslow has done enough to convince institutional investors to back him over a higher bid.

Was Black Friday Sale … but strange moves today.

Umar posted this on Twitter/X … announcement at 8pm?

I guess it is some Black Friday promotion for PLT. Who knows?

Not according to the Times? The first offer is always a try on, and the default position is always to reject it. A CEO looks a bit silly making a first offer then walking away, as a lot of money will have been spent researching the bid and engaging advisors. A second bid is likely ... and then walking away is not an issue if it is rejected.

I think the turnaround in DLG is already underway, and if you add to that the obvious synergies with Aviva you can increase the cost savings significantly. With ex Aviva employees in leading roles at DLG the handover would be friendly and constructive. In the medium term a good acquisition for Aviva. Ageas saw the same potential but their approach was a bit awkward given that a new CEO was lined up to take charge.