KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Mike Ashley, the secretive British retail tycoon, is considering floating his Sports World International empire in a move that could value the company at £2.5 billion ($7.1 billion).
Ashley, 41, is believed to have hired investment bank Merrill Lynch to advise him on a strategy for his 300 shops, which includes Lillywhites in Piccadilly Circus and brands such as Dunlop Slazenger and Kangol.
A total or partial sale of the business is also thought to be an option.
Sports World registered profits close to £75 million on sales of £900 million in 2005.
Ashley owns 100 per cent of the group personally, and securing a £2.5 billion price tag for it would make him Britain's 12th richest person, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. This year he was ranked in 54th place.
A former squash coach, Ashley started the business as an 18-year-old opening sports and ski shops in and around London with private money in the 1980s.
In the 1990s he rebranded the chain Sports Soccer and grew it rapidly. Nevertheless, he was registered as a "sole trader" until as late as 2000, when the business was first incorporated.
The Hertfordshire-based retailer employs more than 8000 staff nationwide, and has expanded into Ireland, Belgium and Slovenia.
In 2002, Ashley acquired Lillywhites and turned the upmarket store into a pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap outlet in line with the rest of his shops.
Ashley's winning formula lures shoppers via major discounts on top brands such as adidas and Nike while also selling brands that he owns at much higher profit margins.
However, adidas and Nike have indicated recently that they do not want their brands sold in what they see as downmarket surroundings.
Ashley turned whistleblower in 2000 and reported his rivals to the Office of Fair Trading for fixing prices of replica football shirts. This eventually led to JJB Sports being fined £8.3 million, and Umbro £6.6 million.
Recently Sports World took a near 30 per cent stake in the retailer Blacks, the owner of Millets and Mambo. This has led to suggestions that Ashley may reverse Sports World into Blacks as a way of getting a stock market listing.
The tycoon never speaks to the press and has not been photographed for 20 years. When his Swedish-born wife, Linda, divorced him in 2003, after 14 years of marriage, he agreed to one of the biggest settlements in British legal history, handing over £50 million worth of assets.
- INDEPENDENT
