Boohoo co-founders sell 4.3% stake

The co-founders of Boohoo have sold a 4.3% stake in the fast fashion retailer worth around £143m.

According to a regulatory filing out on Thursday, Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane sold 50 million shares in the company at 285p each. The shares were sold to institutional investors in a placing managed by Zeus Capital and Jefferies.

Following the placing, Kamani and Kane hold just over 184m shares in the company, or a 15.8% stake.

Executive chairman Kamani sold 35m shares, leaving him with a 13.1% interest, while executive director Kane now has a 2.7% stake after selling 15m shares.

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb said: "We flagged on Tuesday that the unscheduled trading update from Boohoo was meant to be reassuring to investors about how Black Friday had gone, but it now appears that it was also designed to underpin the share price, after a strong run, ahead of a big director share placing.

"And it has been announced first thing this morning that the placing has been done at 285p, a surprisingly small discount to last night’s closing price of circa 297p, but no doubt somebody got wind of the c£143m placing beforehand, as the shares were 3% down yesterday, against the sector uptrend."