It’s been revealed that Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley has started investing in the private rental sector.

The Observer business journalist Emma Haslett says Ashley – a billionaire retail entrepreneur, founder of Sports Direct and a former football club owner – is building an investment in Grainger.

Last month Grainger – the UK’s only listed, scaled, Build To Rent operator – reported six month net rental income of £66.1m.

That’s up from £61.3m over the same period last year.

The Observer reports that Ashley now has a stake of more than 4% in Grainger, having only started investing in the firm in January.

Grainger has some 11,000 private rental units in its portfolio and is the Build To Rent partner of Transport for London, with plans for some 3,000 units at transport interchanges across the capital. 

Its latest annual report states its investment portfolio valued at £3.1 billion and its development and trading portfolio at £0.3 billion.

This year’s Sunday Times Rich List places Ashley as the 48th richest person in the UK with an estimated net worth of £3.44 billion.

You can see the full Observer story here: https://observer.co.uk/news/business/article/mike-ashley-quietly-climbs-the-rental-property-ladder-with-a-bet-on-grainger