Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has accused investment bank Morgan Stanley of “snobbery” over its decision to impose a $1bn margin call.
In a court appearance, Ashley said the bank’s move to force the company out of a position it held in Hugo Boss was “completely unbelievable”.
Adrian Beltrami KC, representing Frasers, said employees at the bank had a “personal dislike” of Ashley, regarding him as an “upstart”. He added that the margin call was “out of any proportion to any actual risk” and that “the evidence regrettably suggests that MS’s erratic behaviour was at least partly the result of snobbery”.
