Candy buys £1.4m stake as he mulls bid for Hut

BILLIONAIRE property tycoon Nick Candy has snapped up a £1.4m stake in The Hut Group as he eyes a takeover of the embattled online retailer.

The businessman behind London’s One Hyde Park bought his 1m share stake in the business on Friday – the morning after he announced he was planning a bid.

He is plotting a takeover through his investment vehicle Candy Ventures, with sources close to him saying he is ‘very serious’ about doing a deal.

His interest was revealed alongside a 170p per share joint bid for THG from Belerion Capital Group and King Street Capital, which would value the business at around £2.1bn.

THG rejected the approach as ‘significantly undervaluing the company and its future prospects’.

Shares slipped yesterday by 4.1pc, or 5.95p, to 139.05p, well below Belerion’s bid.

THG’s founder and chief executive Matt Moulding has a ‘golden share’, giving him an effective veto over any transaction. But The Mail on Sunday revealed over the weekend that he is likely to back an offer of £3bn for the business.