Why is Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group snapping up shopping centres?

Michael Murray has fond memories of childhood trips to the Frenchgate shopping centre in his native Doncaster. Sports Direct, or Sports World as it was known back then, was always high on his list of places to visit.

At the age of 34, Murray now finds himself in the remarkable position of running Frasers Group, the FTSE 100 retailing giant that not only owns Sports Direct but the entirety of Frenchgate, too.

Frasers’ purchase this month of Doncaster’s 770,000 sq ft shopping centre extends a remarkable buying spree. The high street powerhouse, founded and majority-owned by billionaire Mike Ashley, Murray’s father-in-law, has acquired shopping centres in Luton and Dundee, as well as an outlet centre in Castleford, West Yorkshire, within the past 18 months.