HoF suitor tops up his shareholding

THE prospect of House of Fraser again becoming a bid target grew on Friday as it emerged that Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter, a long-term suitor, had upped his shareholding to almost 11%.

Hunter's renewed stakebuilding in the department stores chain comes three months after the lifting of a six-month time restriction that prevented him from making an offer for the group.

House of Fraser on Friday confirmed that Hunter's holding company, TBH Investments, had bought just over 10m shares to increase its stake to 25.6m, or 10.94%.

He is thought to have paid 90p a share for his latest purchase. The shares rose 2 1/2p to 102p, valuing the group at £241m.

HoF chief executive John Coleman last year rejected an indicative offer from Hunter of 85p a share, valuing the group at £197m. Hunter failed to make a firm offer earlier this year, and the Takeover Panel ruled in January that he could not make a further approach for six months.

Any bid from Hunter is likely to involve 8% stakeholder Baugur of Iceland, which supported the indicative offer. It could also involve Scarlett Retail, new owner of the Allders store chain. It looked at HoF's books earlier this year with a view to making an offer.