I’m fat as a barrel, not very bright and often drink 6 pints after work
Maybe it’s why I can’t remember offering anyone £15m, Sports Direct boss tells court
‘I am not Obi-Wan on the Death Star’
SPORTS Direct boss Mike Ashley has dismissed claims that he promised £15million to a banker during a drunken night out, but admitted being so inebriated he cannot even recall the conversation.
It came during colourful testimony in the High Court in which the 52-year-old tycoon compared himself to a Star Wars character, described himself as ‘fat as a barrel’ and ‘not very bright’, and said he would typically have six beers during a post-work drink.
The civil trial is adjudicating on a claim by investment banker Jeffrey Blue, who says that during a drinking session in London Mr Ashley promised him £15million if he increased Sports Direct’s value to £8 a share.
He says Mr Ashley paid him only £1million and is seeking £14million in damages. Mr Ashley argues Mr Blue is ‘trying to take me for £14million off the back of some drunk banter’.
Mr Ashley appeared in the witness box at the rolls Building, used by the High Court to deal with financial matters, for the first time yesterday.
The hearing shed light on a businessman often seen as reclusive, including the fact that he finds writing ‘a struggle’ and considers six pints just a ‘drink after work’.
At times Mr Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United, struggled to find the correct words, and also asked for documents to be read aloud to him.
At one point he exclaimed: ‘I am not Obi-Wan Kenobi in charge of the Death Star’ – a confused reference to the film Star Wars, in which the Death Star is the base of Darth vader, Obi-Wan’s implacable enemy.
Mr Ashley said it was ‘absolutely not the norm’ to make big business decisions while inebriated, but asked how much he might drink with senior employees in pubs in the evening, he replied: ‘If I was drinking wine with the food and not beer, I would prob- ably have four beers and then wine. Or if I stayed on the beer, I would probably have six beers.’
He added: ‘Serious, serious business decisions are not taken on drunken nights out, as you are trying to proclaim, or whatever the word is.’
He said he went to the drinks at the Horse and Groom pub in Fitzrovia in 2013 as a favour for Mr Blue and would have ‘rather put needles in my eye’ than attend. In his witness statement, he said: ‘I don’t just turn up to a venue with someone and negotiate a binding agreement in a few hours over drinks. It was drinks down the pub… nothing more.’
But he admitted: ‘I had drunk so much that I can’t remember which bar we went to.’
Mr Ashley added: ‘I find it incredible that Mr Blue is actually suggesting I made a binding agreement for £15million. It’s nonsense. If I did say I would pay him £15million… it would be obvious to everyone, including Mr Blue, that I wasn’t being serious.’
Jeff Chapman QC, for Mr Blue, asked the tycoon if his employees would expect him to follow through on something he said he would do.
Mr Ashley replied that it depended on the situation, adding: ‘I could say I should go to the gym, because I’m as fat as a barrel and clearly going to die, so I should leave work early and pop off to the gym.’
Describing how he discouraged his staff from taking him to ‘meet-andgreet soirees’ because he does not consider himself clever enough, he said: “I know how disappointing it is when [people] meet me and think, “Jesus, is that it? I thought I was going to meet a bright bloke”.’
He also suggested people have the wrong impression of him and believe he is like a James Bond villain. ‘everybody thinks I just sell it off and go to the beach,’ he said. ‘Honestly, I am fat enough. I don’t need any more food.’
Three brokers who attended the drinking session agreed earlier that a discussion about a reward for Mr Blue did take place, but that it was nothing more than ‘drunk banter’.
Mr Ashley’s cross-examination continues today.
CONTROVERSIAL tycoon Mike Ashley yesterday defended a gambling competition which cost his business Sports Direct £750,000 in legal fees.
The boss admitted challenging top Merrill Lynch banker Simon Mackenzie-Smith to a round of popular City game ‘Spoof’ over the bill for services during the retailer’s stock market float, which he did not believe he should have to pay.
Court papers claim Ashley was ‘bored and frustrated’ by the negotiations at a City meeting, and keen to get to London casino 50 St James.
He is said to have abruptly walked out, forcing Mackenzie-Smith to chase after him and ask about the fees.
Ashley proposed a match of spoof – where opponents try to guess the number of coins hidden by players – to decide who should pay the bill.
After the banker ‘reluctantly agreed’, Ashley lost and was forced to cough up.
In the High Court, he said: ‘I had an opportunity to save Sports Direct £750,000 and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I could have saved £750,000 but I’m not bright or lucky enough.’
The court case has provided an unparalleled insight into how Ashley allegedly runs his business – and revealed his rocky relationship with the City.
His bankers said 52-year- old Ashley was ‘like no other client that anyone at Merrill Lynch had ever come across’, while tales have emerged of drunken board meetings and profanity-filled rants about senior figures in the Square Mile.
Merrill abruptly quit as Sports Direct’s broker in 2012 over concerns that the business might have manipulated its share price when dealing with an employee bonus scheme.
Such a resignation is highly unusual in the City and would have been seen as a hammer blow to the retailer’s reputation. Jef- frey Blue – who worked at Merrill before joining Sports Direct as strategic development director, and is now suing Ashley over a contested £15m pay deal – said one of his first tasks was trying to find a replacement broker.
He said in court papers: ‘I knew, having worked at Merrill Lynch, that senior management would not have taken such a decision lightly.’ He realised just how toxic Sports Direct was when more than half a dozen firms in finance turned down the opportunity. Top firms including Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan allegedly refused to bid for the lucrative contract.
Blue, 47, then claims to have held a meeting with broker Jeffries in november 2012 where his concerns deepened.
Jefferies had particular worries about Sports Direct’s ‘ highly unconventional’ practice of buying shares in other large listed firms, the High Court papers sug- gest. The retailer had taken minority stakes in rivals and partners such as JJB Sports, umbro and Adidas – and Jefferies bosses feared investors would take a very dim view.
Sports Direct hired Portuguese bank Espirito Santo, a deal which Blue claims was only possible because he had previously worked with one of its senior staff members, Peter Tracey.
Sports Direct shares rose 0.4pc, or 1.3p, to 294.9p yesterday.