Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group takes 19% stake in AO World

Move to buy 75m of shares in UK's biggest seller of large domestic appliances

Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has taken an 18.9% stake in the online electricals retailer AO World in a 75m deal involving buying out shares held by crisis-hit Odey Asset Management.

Frasers Group, the parent of brands from Sports Direct to Evans Cycles, said the deal was part of a strategic partnership that the two companies have been in talks about forming for two years.