Numis takeover speculation mounts as Anders Holch Povlsen hikes stake - report
01 OCT 2017
Speculation about Numis [LON:NUM] being on track for a takeover has been fuelled by news that the Denmark-based fashion investor Anders Holch Povlsen has acquired a stake of 11% in the London-based stockbroker for over GBP 30m (USD 40m), The Sunday Times reported.
Joint chief executives of Numis Ross Mitchinson and Alex Ham took over the shared post from founder Oliver Hemsley last year and are considered by some senior figures in the industry to be candidates to take the business private. Neither Mitchinson nor Ham has a sufficiently large holding to mobilise a takeover but they are on track to collect GBP 15m of stock awards in 2021, subject to Numis’ share price exceeding 500p, the report noted.
Ham and Povlsen are believed to be close, the item reported, noting that Numis is house broker to Asos[LON:ASC], the online fashion retailer in which Povlsen is a 29.5% shareholder. Ham also recently arranged a private fundraising deal for Sweden-based payments processing company Klarna, in which Povslen participated. The Danish investor is estimated to have a GBP 5.4bn fortune, the report said.
Numis was also rumoured recently to be on the radar of Barclays [LON:BARC] as a potential bid target. However, according to sources cited in the report, the lender ultimately did not approach Numis.