Investment firm George Osborne increases stake in Ocado to 5% after shares rise by a third
An investment firm led by George Osborne increased its stake in Ocado a day after shares rose nearly a third.
Lingotto Investment Management, backed by the mega-rich Italian Agnelli family and chaired by the former British chancellor, increased its stake to 5 percent on Friday, documents showed yesterday.
That was a day after Ocado shares rose 32 percent amid speculation that suitors, including Amazon, were preparing a takeover bid.
Ocado shares rose during the lockdowns as demand for food supplies surged.
Ocado stake: Lingotto Investment Management, backed by the mega-wealthy Italian Agnelli family and chaired by the former British chancellor (pictured)
But after reaching nearly 2,900 pence each at the end of 2020, they were below 350 pence at the beginning of this month and had lost nearly 90 percent of their value. Last night they closed down 1.3 percent, or 7p, at 530.6p.
The investment by Lingotto — owned by the billionaire Agnelli family’s Exor Group — comes a month after Osborne was named chairman.
Exor is run by John Elkann, 47, the chosen heir of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, and has controlling interests in Ferrari, Juventus football club and The Economist Group.
Elkann is chairman of car manufacturer Stellantis, while Osborne is a partner at London investment bank Robey Warshaw.