Sports Direct (LON:SPD) has taken a 19% stake in online gift specialist Findel (LON:FDL), which owns the Kitbag replica sports strip website.
Findel noted the stake building this morning, but there was no statement from Sports Direct, which is majority owned by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.
Reports today suggested that Findel had just agreed to sell Kitbag, having been put up for sale last year but that the buyer was not Sports Direct.
Mike Ashley and Sports Direct have taken stakes in a number of rival companies in the past, including most recently Debenhams where it took a 16.6% holding and negotiated a concessions deal.
JJB Sports, Blacks Leisure and JD Sports, where he still owns a 10% stake, have all been on Ashley’s radar at one time or another.
The stake in Findel is thought to cost a little more than £30mln, but analysts played down the prospect of a bid for the company as this has not been Ashley’s modus operandi.
Shares in Findel jumped 14% to 229.3p while Sports Direct dipped 2% to 739p.