Mike Ashley criticised by First Property Group for refusing to pay store rents but offering £50m lifeline to Arcadia

December 7, 2020

Mr Habib told The Telegraph: “I was interested to read that Mr Ashley has offered [Sir] Philip Green a £50m loan. Especially interested, in fact, as Mr Ashley’s Frasers Group currently owes a pension fund, on whose behalf I manage property, hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid rent.

“Buying distressed assets and saving jobs is a positive thing. But if you are simultaneously refusing to honour your debts, you are in effect buying them with other people’s capital. In this case, that of vulnerable pensioners. In the midst of a pandemic, this is inexcusable.”