By
Reuters
Published
Feb 17, 2015
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Sports Direct's M&A man Blue to leave

By
Reuters
Published
Feb 17, 2015

LONDON, United Kingdom - Former Merrill Lynch banker Jeff Blue is to leave his position as strategic development director at Sports Direct, Britain's biggest sporting goods retailer which has been expanding in continental Europe.

Blue, who led the float of Sports Direct in 2007 while at Merrill Lynch, joined the retailer in Nov. 2012 to run investor relations and orchestrate mergers and acquisitions under the lead of its founder and majority stakeholder Mike Ashley.

Photo: Sports Direct


Blue has helped Sports Direct snap up controlling stakes in Austrian sports retailer EAG and Sportland International Group in the Baltics, as well as surprise options on shares in Britain's biggest retailer Tesco and Debenhams.

While Sports Direct still has strong underlying growth prospects in Britain, analysts have been waiting for an acceleration in overseas acquisitions to help meet the company's ambitious growth targets.

Blue, however, will leave next month.

"Jeff (Blue) is employed by Sports Direct until the end of March," a spokesman for the firm said on Tuesday, declining to give any reason for his departure.

Sports Direct has also been without a Finance Director since Bob Mellors resigned due to ill health in December 2013.

 

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