Boohoo gets a boost as US hedge fund Citadel takes 5% stake in retailer
Boohoo received a boost as one of the world’s biggest hedge funds took a 5 per cent stake in the online fast fashion firm.
Shares rose 3.7 per cent, or 2.04p to 57.1p after Ken Griffin’s US-based Citadel became its fifth-biggest backer.
Citadel’s stake emerged amid a bleak backdrop for Boohoo, which last month booked its first sales drop in the UK. Shares are at six-year lows, having lost 82 per cent in 2021.
Shares hit 412p in June 2020, valuing it at £5.2billion. This has fallen as the UK emerged from lockdown and the economic outlook deteriorated, with Boohoo now worth £721million.
But Griffin’s investment marks a vote of confidence in Boohoo’s ability to mount a turnaround. Griffin founded Citadel in 1990 after beginning his trading at Harvard University years earlier. At the time it managed just £3.9million, which has since soared to £43billion, propelling his personal fortune to an estimated £21.3billion.
