Frasers Group PLC (LON:FRAS) has raised its stake in bag designer Mulberry Group PLC (LON:MUL) to 36.82%.
The Sports Direct and House of Fraser owner snapped up 22mln shares for 150p each, a 21% discount to Wednesday’s closing price.
READ: Frasers Group trades positively as fresh Debenhams move is eyed
The firm first bought a 12.5% stake in Mulberry in February and was later increased to 29.61% earlier this month.
Because Asian firm Challice owns 56% of Mulberry's issued share capital, Frasers Group does not have to make a mandatory cash offer to other shareholders as it would otherwise be the case as per London Stock Exchange rules.
However, the FTSE 250 firm has until December 17 to announce whether it would like to buy the whole company by making a cash offer to all shareholders or not.
Fraser's boss Mike Ashley has always loved a shopping spree, having purchased a string of sports brands and a handful of smaller rivals over the years, including House of Fraser two years ago, which led to the change of name from Sports Direct a year ago.
Last month it was reportedly eyeing a potential acquisition of Debenhams out of administration.
Frasers, which also owns the Jack Wills, Flannels and Evans Cycles chains among others, has been pursuing an 'elevation strategy' to drive an increasingly premium offering via several of its retail brands across fashion, sports and lifestyle which aims to lift earnings in the medium term.
Conversely, AIM-listed Mulberry has had a tough time during the pandemic as many other luxury brands, so it expects sales to fall by 35% and 61% in retail and wholesale & franchise respectively in the year to next March.
Shares in Mulberry dipped 1% to 188p while Frasers Group was flat at 474.86p on Thursday morning.