Ashley swoops in to take control of ailing US sporting good chains

The billionaire tycoon has acquired the chains by buying up the debts of their parent firm Eastern Outfitters, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.

The deal will see Mr Ashley take charge of around 50 retail stores in the US under the Bob’s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports fascias, which sell clothing, sportswear and camping equipment.

Sports Direct said the acquisition will provide it with a “footprint in US bricks-and-mortar retail and a platform from which to grow US online sales”.

Eastern Outfitters booked a pre-tax net operating loss of 26 million US dollars (£20 million) in the year to January 28, although the gross assets of the businesses being acquired stands at 126 million US dollars (£98 million).

Mr Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United FC, has courted controversy recently, coming under fire for presiding over “Victorian” working conditions at Sports Direct’s warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.

The retailer has since moved to elect an employee to attend board meetings.

Analysts at Peel Hunt were less than impressed with the news that Sports Direct is going to the US, with Jonathan Pritchard dubbing the decision a “major distraction”.

He added: “We are rapidly losing patience with the company’s lack of ability to stick to a strategy, not to mention the complete investor relations vacuum.

“We find the timing extraordinary. We don’t really care if this proves to be an unmissable deal.

“The shares (and arguably the company at large) depend on the success of the UK transformation programme and it seems that this focus is not shared by the company.”

Shares in Sports Direct were trading 0.7 per cent lower at 312.8p in morning trading.

Eastern Outfitters is owned by private equity firm Versa Capital Management, which acquired Bob’s and Eastern Mountain Sports through the bankruptcy last year of Vestis Retail Group LLC, the previous owner of the store chains.

Versa said at the time that Eastern Outfitters had more than $400 million in annual revenue.

The two retailers and Sports Chalet were indirectly owned by Versa when it filed for Chapter 11 in April.